PARIS: Bugatti has put the Chiron out to grass, but instead of unveiling a new all-electric hypercar, the maker's latest model is a petrol-powered homage to mechanical precision.
Tourbillon is the name of the outlandish V16 hybrid, a French word for the tiny mechanism in a watch escapement which ensures accuracy.
The electric side comes from Croatian maker Rimac and is mated to a naturally aspirated V16 engine developed with Cosworth.
The car will go on sale from 2026 in a production run of 250 units with prices starting at €4.5 million (RM22.7mil), company boss Mate Rimac announced. He heads the new Bugatti-Rimac company which is 55% owned by the Rimac Group and 45% by Porsche/Volkswagen.
Rimac describes the Tourbillon as "art on wheels, a painting in motion," and says he wants to continue the company's legacy of "bending physics."
For the time being, the two brands will continue to be developed and built separately: Bugattis in Molsheim, France, and Rimacs from 2023 at the new campus headquarters near Zagreb.
Even if the shape of the new car looks familiar, the Chiron successor has been completely re-jigged around an unrivalled drive system. For the first time, there is a naturally aspirated V16 engine that generates 735 kW/1,000 hp from a displacement of 8.3 litres.
In order to outperform the Chiron with up to 1,176 kW/1,600hp at the wheels, Rimac's people combined the combustion engine with three electric motors, giving the Tourbillon a system output of 1,324 kW/1,800hp.
And because there is also a buffer battery of 25 kWh, the Tourbillon can also drive for some 60km in pure electric mode.
The propulsive quartet enables breathtaking driving performance: According to Rimac, the sprint from 0 to 100kph takes just 2.0 seconds and the achievable top speed is given as 445kph.
Details in the cockpit echo the art of watchmaking with instruments which also look like luxury chronometers and are made from 600 moving parts designed and built by Swiss watchmakers.
