Bugatti is phasing out the W-16 but the new engine earmarked for the Chiron’s successor will have the same cylinder count. Some 33 years after the obscure Cizeta-Moroder V16T, a new V-16 is right around the corner. Molsheim’s next hypercar arrives in June with a massive powertrain devoid of forced induction. New details have emerged about the sixteen-cylinder monster.
Bugatti-Rimac CEO Mate Rimac shared some preliminary details this week during the Future of the Car Summit conference in London. The 36-year-old Croatian engineer and entrepreneur revealed the V-16 will skip turbocharging altogether. It’s a significant departure from the Chiron and Veyron, but also the EB110 before them. All three cars rocked a quad-turbo setup.
The founder and CEO of the Rimac Group–which owns 55 percent of Bugatti Rimac–revealed the new V-16 engine is going to measure a whopping 39.3 inches long. That’ll make it nearly 16 inches longer than the outgoing W-16. The latter will be phased out once production of the Mistral roadster and track-only Bolide ends. The newly developed engine has already been confirmed to feature hybridization.
These are all the details confirmed thus far, so this is the part where the speculation begins. German magazine Auto Motor und Sport claims the V-16 has a giant 8.3-liter displacement and has been developed with Cosworth. It revs all the way up to 9,000 rpm and works with three electric motors. Combined, the output could reach 1,800 horsepower. On its own, the combustion engine is said to be good for around 1,000 hp.
Two of the electric motors are believed to drive the front wheels while the third one powers the rear axle. The latter is supposedly built into a dual-clutch, eight-speed automatic transmission. Factoring in the DCT, the engine/gearbox assembly is reportedly 78.7 inches long. If reports are to be believed, Bugatti’s engineers are cramming in a 24.8-kWh battery good for 37 miles of electric range.
AMS has it on good authority the Bugatti Chiron replacement will hit 62 mph in about two seconds and 124 mph in less than five. From 0 to 186 mph, it’ll take less than ten seconds and the 0-249 mph task could be completed in under 25 seconds. Flat out, it’s going to be electronically capped at 277 mph.
If the report is accurate, only 250 cars are going to be made. As a refresher, the Veyron was limited to 450 units while the Chiron is being built in 500 examples. Although the reveal takes place next month, deliveries to customers are apparently not going to start until 2026. Price? At least €3.6 million, which works out to $3.86M at current exchange rates.