Automotive

Bugatti Tourbillon targets timeless, 1,800-hp perfection

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The Bugatti Tourbillon
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A 30-ft softbox is going to make anything look beautiful, including the Bugatti Tourbillon
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The kind of doors every little boy dreams of having on their car
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The Bugatti Tourbillon's stance
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Bugatti Tourbillon's rear end gives me McLaren P1 vibes
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Imagine the Bugatti Tourbillon with Subaru rally gold wheels
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Bugatti Tourbillon designed to be slippery and thermal-efficient
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The Bugatti Tourbillon
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If it looks like a Veyron and quacks like a Chiron, it's probably a Tourbillon
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Bugatti Tourbillon side view, still very much recognizable as a Bugatti
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Bugatti Tourbillon sports its highly recognizable two tone paint
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From every angle, the Bugatti Tourbillon looks like a piece of art
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The Bugatti Tourbillon lines are exquisite
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Bugatti Tourbillon
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Bugatti Tourbillon
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Bugatti Tourbillon prototype on the open road
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Cat and mouse. Or maybe just cat and cat
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Generations of Bugatti
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"BUGATTI", lit up and 3d, looks really good
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Bugatti Tourbillon
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"Hey, babe, you want to drive?"
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Surgical booties required, if you want to touch those pedals
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Bugatti Tourbillon
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Bugatti Tourbillon
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The new Bugatti Tourbillon interior already looks like a museum piece
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The steering wheel rotates around the gauges, keeping the gauges stationary while you turn
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Like a Swiss clock, actually made by Swiss clock makers, the Bugatti Tourbillon tells you what time it is. Time for money
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View gallery - 26 images

Twenty years ago, the Veyron was born. A dozen years later, the Chiron. And now the Tourbillon – Bugatti's new epoch – born through the concept of horology: a 277-mph (446 km/h), 1,800-hp, naturally aspirated V16, three-electric-motor, luxury hybrid hypercar.

For US$4 million, you can own this timeless masterpiece crafted with the attention to detail of a hundred-year-old Swiss watch. Its stationary and entirely analog gauge cluster centered in the steering wheel is comprised of over 600 individual pieces of titanium, billet aluminum, crystal glass, rubies and sapphires, oozing very much with Breguet-like affluence.

So as not to disrupt the Tourbillon's bespoke interior, hidden in the center console is a high-definition screen that can be deployed on-demand in either portrait or landscape mode, displaying the vehicle's data or the reverse camera.

"If you see a piece of what you think is titanium, then that’s what it is," said Bugatti president, Christophe Piochon. "It is clear from looking at any of Ettore Bugatti’s creations that every component – even if it is never seen – is a work of art, and that was our intention with Tourbillon, too."

Like a Swiss clock, actually made by Swiss clock makers, the Bugatti Tourbillon tells you what time it is. Time for money
Bugatti

No expense is spared in the Tourbillon, which translates to "whirlwind" – which has nothing to do with a breeze at all. A tourbillon is a gravity-defeating device inside of an extremely high-end mechanical watch that improves time-keeping accuracy as it rotates, ticking the second hand. It is symbolic as the absolute highest degree of craftsmanship and quality in watch-making. Very few watch manufacturers are capable of producing this acutely complex and expensive type of timepiece.

Bugatti has long applied this level of craftsmanship to its cars.

Ettore Bugatti once said, "Nothing is too beautiful."

Mate Rimac, CEO of Bugatti took this cue when developing the Tourbillon. It's intended to be unlike anything before. The Tourbillion "... wouldn’t be simply for the present, or even for the future, but pour l’éternité – for eternity," Rimac went on to say.

The Bugatti Tourbillon lines are exquisite
Bugatti

Since Bugatti's acquisition from VW by the Rimac Group, many speculated an EV version of the Bugatti was in the offing, considering Rimac's history of EVs. In Bugatti's previous two hypercar ventures, the stapled W16, four turbo arrangement has been beating heart, propelling the Veyron and Chiron to never-before-seen speeds in production vehicles. Bugatti contemplated reengineering the W16 or even going fully electric before taking the hardest route and developing an entirely new hybrid system and chassis from the ground up.

The Tourbillon deviated from its turbo'd W16 tradition with an all-new 8.3-liter, naturally aspirated V16 power plant making 1,000 hp (745 kW). It has been paired with a dual front axle and a single rear axle electric motor, making a combined 800 hp (596 kW). The electric motors are powered by a relatively small 25-kWh, oil-cooled battery pack at 800 volts. In all-electric mode, the Tourbillon has a range of 37 miles (60 km).

All of this incredible technology and engineering of mostly composite materials makes the Tourbillon lighter than its predecessor, the Chiron, even with its V16 engine weighing 555.5 lb (252 kg).

"So yes, it is crazy to build a new V16 engine, to integrate with a new battery pack and electric motors and to have a real Swiss-made watchmaker instrument cluster and 3D-printed suspension parts and a Crystal Glass center console. But it is what Ettore would have done, and it is what makes a Bugatti incomparable and timeless," Mate Rimac said in Bugatti's press release.

From every angle, the Bugatti Tourbillon looks like a piece of art
Bugatti

Bugatti is now in the testing phase, with prototypes already on the road. Customer deliveries are slated to begin in 2026. Most of the 250 four-million-dollar production cars – which will be made by hand – are already spoken for.

Source: Bugatti

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9 comments
paul314
A billion dollars. That used to be real money.
paleochocolate
I hope the Supersport version covers up the engine with glass to get maximum aerodynamic efficiency out of it.
SpieroFantasio
I can't help myself. The thing looks ridiculous to me. And it reminds me of another car. This one: https://img.classistatic.de/api/v1/mo-prod/images/43/430e7c51-092b-4638-b23b-c6453681ec2e?rule=mo-1024.jpg (Citroën 2 CV 6 Charleston) Not only because it was also french, as Bugatti intends to seem to be. Well, we know, bling-bling Bugatti is actually a brand by the German company Volkswagen today.
veryken
...to be purchased, owned, and driven only by old guys who will only cruise at 25mph max to their bow-tie soirées.
guzmanchinky
And it STILL wastes EIGHT PERCENT of the energy in the tank as HEAT. Just go electric already and get away from the moving parts inefficiency disaster that is the ICE...
guzmanchinky
I mean to say EIGHTY PERCENT, not 8. 8 would be amazing...
BlueOak
@ SpieroFantasio, Bugatti is no longer owned by the Volkswagen group.
John
Absolutely stunning. @paleochocolate I'm sure that's already done. SpieroFantasio you have no appreciation for art. The car you referenced looks like a turd. ICE cars will live on for years as there is no workable replacement. Electric cars still use fossil fuel to charge. Power plants don't you know.
SpieroFantasio
@ BlueOak >Thanks, I learned that Bugatti has been sold tot he Croatian company Rimac in ´21. VW holds only a small share via Porsche. A good decision by Volkswagen!