Friday 1st March 2024

Bugatti confirms all-new V16 for Chiron successor

Mate Rimac always said people would be blown away by its new engine. Seems like he wasn't exaggerating...

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No one was more pleased than us when Mate Rimac - newly installed as Bugatti’s CEO - made it clear that the hypercar manufacturer’s long association with spectacular combustion engines would not cease just because it was now joined at the hip with a carmaker that had exclusively focused on EVs. As anyone who has met the man will tell you, he’s first and foremost a car fan - so when he reassured everyone that work was well underway on a ‘bonkers’ unit to replace the long-running 8.0-litre quad-turbo W16, we took him at his word. 

Good that we did. Because eight years to the day since the Chiron was revealed, Bugatti has confirmed that the engine’s replacement will be a ‘V16 hybrid powertrain’. So much for downsizing, eh? For now there are no additional details on spec or output - but there hardly needs to be. Merely confirming that Bugatti will persevere with 16 petrol-burning cylinders is enough, and if anyone can be trusted to make them work with electricity, it is likely the mentalists at Rimac. 

The very short press release accompanying the pictures suggests it is ‘incomparable in every detail, [and] a pure embodiment of Bugatti’s DNA, created not just for the present, or even the future – but “Pour l’éternité”.’ On the basis that this is likely the last petrol engine Bugatti will ever field (taking into account a life cycle that will probably take it beyond 2030) it might earn such that lofty description. Now, of course, it just has to live up to it. 

There’s every reason to think it will. Mate Rimac suggested that a Rimac-developed engine had already been in development for two years prior to his taking over of Bugatti, meaning the V16 has had the luxury of a lengthy gestation period. Additionally, and no matter the final displacement, it has extraordinary and improbable vastness built in - very few cars have ever boasted two banks of eight cylinders on a common crankshaft. There was the vanishing rare Cizeta-Moroder V16T, of course, and Cadillac had a go back in the ’30s, but otherwise it has generally been limited to race cars and prototypes - most famously in the Rolls-Royce 100EX. So whatever the Chiron’s replacement looks like (we’ll find that out when it’s fully revealed in June) its new engine virtually guarantees it pre-eminence - even among equally silly hypercars.

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• Bugatti sends £2.75m to 273mph
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[HardMiles]

Brillo pads! Glad someone is keeping the dream alive. Not that I can afford one, but this is good to see that not everybody is shying away from proper engines. Nice!

[C5_Steve]

When I saw the release clip earlier I completely misread the V16 part as W16 and thought no more of it until I was staring at the engine pic and noticed the V. Absolutely bonkers.

[Hackney]

Whenever I see an article about Mate Rimac I always think it’s going to be a sequel to the 1957 musical comedy, Pal Joey

[Mark-C]

No mention of BRM in any 16-cylinder engine discussion always makes me sad ...

[Mannginger]

It does sound like the BRM!

[hu8742]

The Cizetza Moroder ... that was always a winner in my Top Trumps set as a kid.

Great news that Bugatti are doing this. Bored of hearing about EVs.

[matrignano]

Carbon manifold with what looks like a at least 4 throttle bodies, and quad turbos!

Bet they're going for 2000hp combined output

[NDNDNDND]

Move along, move along,

Nothing to see here,

The petrol engine is dead,

Move along, please move along.

[Zad]

Shame they didn't go for 18 cylinders! You can do funky things with different cylinder offsets in 3s.

[ManyMotors]

Certainly excessive but still fun, if you have the money. Most V16s have been with a 45 degree V. I wonder if this will also have that. "Perfect balance", like in a straight six, is possible and likely. With all the power available in a V16, I wonder why they need the electric motor? Or, these days, with the electric motor, why do they need the V16?

No doubt they will sell though the people buying them will be very ugly.

[Zad]

Mannginger said:

It does sound like the BRM!

It does rather.

[LeeM135i]

Holly cow, out of my price range by many many multiples but got to love the fact they are still investing in and developing engines like this!!!!!

[LeeM135i]

Holly cow, out of my price range by many many multiples but got to love the fact they are still investing in and developing engines like this!!!!!

[NicoG]

matrignano said:

Carbon manifold with what looks like a at least 4 throttle bodies, and quad turbos!

Bet they're going for 2000hp combined output

Can you imagine the induction noise behind your head with those carbon inlet manifolds....
in my CSL it was verging on erotic, but this is going to need a spill kit for sure...

[WCZ]

matrignano said:

Carbon manifold with what looks like a at least 4 throttle bodies, and quad turbos!

Bet they're going for 2000hp combined output

2000hp is too low and has been done already, I'd expect this to be pushing 2200hp+ - 1800hp from the engine and 400hp from the hybrid side

[Kawasicki]

I wonder if it is 2 VAG 4.0 V8 joined together? With an electric motor in the middle? The inlet manifold spacing isn’t even. There are 8 inlets with small gaps, then there is a bigger gap, then another 8 with small gaps.

[Jex]

Mark-C said:

No mention of BRM in any 16-cylinder engine discussion always makes me sad ...

Of course that was only 1.5 litres, so a V16 doesn't have to be enormous!

[NGK210]

Kawasicki said:

I wonder if it is 2 VAG 4.0 V8 joined together? With an electric motor in the middle? The inlet manifold spacing isn’t even. There are 8 inlets with small gaps, then there is a bigger gap, then another 8 with small gaps.

^This. (Was going to say, “Something doesn’t look ‘right’…”)

[ducnick]

NGK210 said:

Kawasicki said:

I wonder if it is 2 VAG 4.0 V8 joined together? With an electric motor in the middle? The inlet manifold spacing isn’t even. There are 8 inlets with small gaps, then there is a bigger gap, then another 8 with small gaps.

^This. (Was going to say, “Something doesn’t look ‘right’…”)

Let’s hope it’s two straight eights, not two v8’s (that would be a cop out)
I wonder if the cam shafts are driven centrally like on the MV Augusta F4, rather than off one end of a very long camshaft.

[Snubs]

WCZ said:

matrignano said:

Carbon manifold with what looks like a at least 4 throttle bodies, and quad turbos!

Bet they're going for 2000hp combined output

2000hp is too low and has been done already, I'd expect this to be pushing 2200hp+ - 1800hp from the engine and 400hp from the hybrid side

Agreed, they've going to have to push for some really insane numbers. But how do you get all that power down unless you're already doing 150mph? By my understanding fully electric cars like the Rimac and Teslas manage it through a traction control system that can change the torque much, much more quickly than an ICE, or hybrid ICE, system can.