In the modern era, Bugatti is best known for their high-horsepower hypercars. This new image was first created by the 1,000-horsepower Veyron, then reinforced by the 1,500 horsepower Chiron. And now, Bugatti is tipping the scales once more with a new hypercar entry: the Tourbillon.
And how many horsepower does the Tourbillon produce? More than you’ll ever need, but to put it into scientific terms, 1,800. That’s a total output derived from the melding of internal-combustion and electrical power.
The Tourbillon’s gas-fed power plant is an 8.3-liter, naturally-aspirated V16, producing 1,000 horsepower on its own. The last 800 ponies are derived from a trio of electric motors, powered by a 25 kWh battery, oil cooled and situated in the central tunnel. Two of those electric motors are situated upfront, with the last one mounted in back. In case anyone is wondering, all-electric range is estimated at 37 miles.
For those not sold on the insistent use of screens for instrumentation, you might be pleased to know that the Tourbillon’s interior was made to be “timeless.” As such, Bugatti chose to avoid technology that could be seen as outdated in 10 years– or 100, assuming humanity is still around to admire it (or AI has an appreciation for the finer things). Jokes aside, the instrument cluster was designed by Swiss watchmakers and assembled with parts made from titanium and gemstones. The center console is made of glass and aluminum; and while there is an infotainment screen, it can be hidden away should its appearance high on the dash be too unsightly.
There’s not much we can say on the exterior, as it has been expectedly made to harness the might of the various aerodynamic forces at play when punching the throttle and reaching a top speed of 276 mph. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but the Tourbillon is undeniably Bugatti by design, with the large grille and red badge defining its leading edge.
With four-wheel drive, a 9,000 rpm redline and an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission, we fully expect the Bugatti Tourbillon to blow minds when it arrives in 2026. Bugatti is only committing themselves to 250 units, hand-built and starting at €3.8 million, translating to just over $4 million here in the states.
The Watch-Inspired Bugatti Tourbillon Hypercar Is Revealed
One of the funniest bits in the old HBO show Silicon Valley has todo with car doors.
Tech bro investor Russ Hanneman, after some poor investments, is forced to sell his Mclaren, which he drove as a billionaire, and downgrade to a Maserati since becoming a lowly millionaire. His major hangup: the doors. The McLaren had, in his words, “billionaire doors,” meaning they swung up like switchblades or the wings of a hawk. The Maserati sedan he drove, on the other hand, had conventional doors that opened like those on a Prius.
I always found it odd that the Bugatti Veyron which debuted in 2005 and its predecessor the Chiron, unveiled in 2015, always had conventional doors despite being one of the fastest things on the road with a multimillion-dollar price tag. They were remarkably easy to drive fast, had sumptuous interiors that were free of screens and truly built to be appreciated decades from now. But they lacked a certain drama when it came to getting in and out of one.
That finally changed with the new Bugatti Tourbillon which was unveiled June 20th. It’s the first new design from the company since it merged with electric sports car maker Rimac in 2021. The Tourbillon gets what’s called dihedral doors, which swing out and up. We think Russ Hanneman would approve.
The doors are indicative of all the big changes that the $4.6 million Tourbillon represents. Bugatti says that there’s not a single component shared between the Tourbillon and the Chiron it replaces.
Gone is the Chiron’s turbo-charged W-16 engine. Hearing the air being forced through the four turbo wastegate valves was like listening to a dragon breathe, a truly distinctive sound in the car world. The Tourbillon, on the other hand has an 8.3-liter V-16 that is naturally aspirated, meaning that it will likely sound even gnarlier in an old school muscle car kind of way.
In lieu of turbos, there are three electric motors, two at the front axle and another at the rear. In all, the three motors make 789 horsepower. Combine that with the engine and you get a mind-boggling total of 1775 horsepower—that’s more than any previous Bugatti model. (Just to put things in perspective, the very powerful 2024 Porsche 911 GT3 has 502 horsepower.)
While the Tourbillon very much looks like a Bugatti, it’s is lower, leaner, and wider, and the cockpit itself is narrower and feels even more analog than its predecessors thanks to what is sort of the car’s namesake, the watch-inspired gauge cluster which is presented like a mechanical timepiece. A Swiss watchmaker builds the gauges. It’s the real deal with raised numbers, physical needles, and scratch resistant sapphire crystal coverings. 250 Tourbillons will be made and deliveries will be expected next summer.
Bugatti says It can go 0 to 60 mph in 2.0 seconds and hit 250 mph in about 25 seconds. That’s .3 seconds faster than the outgoing Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+. But perhaps more importantly, you’ll now look even cooler getting in and out of one.
Original Post roperzh
