Bugatti Goes Electric With Tourbillon, The Chiron Successor

Bugatti has unveiled its replacement for the legendary Chiron, the Tourbillon. On display at a star-studded world premiere in Molsheim, France, the all-new hypercar marks a complete departure from the brand’s iconic W16 engine. This time it has been electrified, with the help of Mate Rimac, the unstoppable force behind the all-electric Nevera, the fastest accelerating hypercar in the world. I attended the launch event and talked to Rimac about his approach to the design of the new multi-million-dollar monster.

First off, while the Tourbillon is electrified, it isn’t in the way most people predicted (and some feared). Since Rimac joined forces with Bugatti and Porsche nearly three years ago, there has been an expectation that the new Bugatti would take the drivetrain of the Nevera or a heavily modified version of it, and become all-electric. But that hasn’t happened. Instead, the Tourbillon follows the hybrid route plotted by Ferrari with the SF90 Stradale and McLaren with the Artura – except with a uniquely Bugatti twist.

There is still an all-new 8.3-liter naturally aspirated V16 engine, engineered in collaboration with legendary British race engine maker Cosworth, playing a central role. But this has been paired with a powerful electric powertrain consisting of a front e-axle with two electric motors and an additional rear motor. The combination delivers a staggering 1,800 hp, exceeding the Bugatti Veyron’s output despite the combustion engine being naturally aspirated. The electric motors offer immediate torque and agility, while the 25kWh battery allows for a usable all-electric range of over 37 miles.

I asked Mate Rimac about the powertrain choice when we met in Zagreb a week before the launch. “I’m fully convinced that normal transport will go electric,” he says. “It just makes more sense. But there will be very specific niches where combustion is going to stick around for a lot longer than people think. It’s just something that people are emotional about.” This is something I rediscovered when I recently test-drove the Maserati MC20. “Also, certain brands will have a hard time differentiating themselves without having a combustion engine because that’s what they built their heritage on. So going electric will be difficult for them.”

“However, with electric you can do exciting things that you can’t do with combustion, which is what we’ve achieved with the Nevera,” says Rimac. “Our customers have dozens of cars in their garages, so they do not necessarily want just one type of vehicle. You need to offer them something special. Electric can be special. That’s what we show with the Nevera. It has almost 2,000 horsepower, 27 world records and does crazy stuff like drift mode. Our customers love the car. But for different markets and categories of cars, it will be a very easy transition or a very difficult one to go electric. We have positioned ourselves as the pioneers – the slightly crazy guys who do stuff that others don’t do and there is a market for those cars. I also believe that the market for combustion engine cars in this category will live on for quite a while.”

Continuing The Long Bugatti Tradition

The Tourbillon comes from a lengthy heritage of combustion greatness. It draws inspiration from Bugatti’s rich 115-year history, guided by founder Ettore Bugatti’s pursuit of automotive excellence. His mantras, “if comparable it is no longer Bugatti” and “nothing is too beautiful,” are embedded in the Tourbillon’s design and engineering, which spares no expense nor shirks any engineering challenge. The Tourbillon pays homage to legendary Bugatti models like the Type 57SC Atlantic, Type 35, and Type 41 Royale, embodying beauty, performance, and unmatched luxury.

However, unlike previous Bugattis, the Tourbillon abandons the tradition of naming core models after racing drivers. Instead, “Tourbillon”, a French word referencing a watchmaking invention (and already used for some actual Bugatti-branded timepieces), is meant to reflect the car’s intricate mechanics and enduring elegance. The design prioritizes timeless appeal, employing a completely analogue instrument cluster crafted by Swiss watchmakers. Every component is meticulously chosen to ensure the Tourbillon remains a cherished heirloom for generations to come, like a classic Swiss timepiece.

As with all modern Bugattis, the Tourbillon is also sculpted for exceptional aerodynamics. Every surface, intake, and ridge is meticulously honed to achieve not only aerodynamic efficiency but also optimal performance for the car’s V16 engine, electric motors, and battery. The Tourbillon boasts several patented technologies honed over two decades of Bugatti’s experience with the Veyron and Chiron. But the most revolutionary feature is the drivetrain.

“When I was thinking about what to do with the Bugatti brand, I considered how Bugatti has had many types of cars, not just hypercars – race cars, huge luxury cars, and GTs,” says Rimac. “So you could go in many directions, but in every direction Bugatti is the pinnacle of the auto industry. I realized the brand was about pushing the limits, and we needed to continue that. Our shareholders were very much pushing for an electric car, and that would have been the easiest thing because we had the Nevera with 2,000 horsepower and 400-plus km/h. On paper you could just restyle it into a Bugatti. That was what everyone expected but I thought it was the wrong thing to do, because Bugatti is about heritage sport craftsmanship. It’s about 115 years of history. I felt a Bugatti still needs a combustion engine, so four years ago I made a 3D printed concept of the car. It had a V16 engine and an electric motor in the rear and two electric motors in the front, with the battery pack in the middle. I brought this to the Volkswagen Group management and said this is what I want to do.”

The Tourbillon is also built upon an entirely new chassis and body structure, to complement the unique motor configuration. The structure utilizes a next-generation T800 carbon composite, incorporating weight-saving innovations like a battery integrated into the monocoque and a revolutionary crash composite rear diffuser. The car also features a completely new multi-link suspension system, forged from aluminum, for exceptional handling.

“I realized the Volkswagen Group is not a company with one opinion, it’s lots of people with lots of different opinions,” says Rimac. “So it was all very political but we managed to do the deal, and I got a huge opportunity to lead the brand into the next chapter. I wanted to create a super emotional combustion engine enabled by high performance electric poetry. It is all about the combustion engine, with the electric powertrain in the background. It has an old school, somewhat weak engine that doesn’t have the power, but you have the electric powertrain making up for that and more. You have immediate throttle response, torque vectoring and regenerative braking at low RPM. All the disadvantages of the combustion engine go away. But then you can have a really cool combustion engine.”

“The W16 in the Chiron is an amazing motor, but the only thing you hear is the turbos,” adds Rimac. “It’s a unique sound, but it’s just turbos, and when you push the throttle, nothing happens for a second if you’re not in the right RPM range and boost. The Tourbillon doesn’t have that. It has an amazing V16 naturally aspirated engine sound and torque more than you can ever wish for from very low speeds because of the electric motors. It’s bringing the advantages of the two sides together into a super high tech electric powertrain, which is basically Formula One technology.”

With a starting price of €3.8 million and limited to only 250 units, the Bugatti Tourbillon is another exclusive vehicle for very special customers. It embodies Bugatti’s relentless pursuit of innovation and dedication to crafting timeless masterpieces. The Tourbillon is meant to be more than a car; it’s meant to be a testament to Bugatti’s unwavering commitment to pushing the boundaries of automotive engineering and design.

But Where Does The Bugatti Tourbillon Leave The Rimac Brand?

“I feel like an artist with two canvases,” says Rimac. “There’s Bugatti, which is about heritage, luxury and craftsmanship – quality leather, the analogue feel, more like a classical traditional watchmaker. Then there’s Rimac, which is about the extreme of high performance, pushing boundaries, doing crazy stuff, maybe stuff that’s a little bit too extreme for an old brand.”

“At 36 years old I’ve developed five cars completely from the ground up,” concludes Rimac. “I’ve learned so much along the way. I’m super self-critical and find 1,000 things in previous projects that we could have done better. But with the Tourbillon, nothing fell off the table. It’s really amazing – the interior, the powertrain and everything – and you can see that by the response from customers. Despite only offering 250 cars at a 3.8 million Euro starting price, it was almost sold out before we even showed it to the public. That’s a reflection of the attractiveness of the product. We still have a lot to offer with the Bugatti brand – and Rimac – so I feel great about the way business is going.”