Bugatti might be under the ownership of EV experts Rimac these days, but it evidently has no immediate plans to abandon combustion power – or to embrace downsizing. The firm has just revealed that it’s replacing its current W16 engine with a hybrid-assisted V16.
The news broke in the form of an official Bugatti video that lets us see and hear the new motor, but the automaker stopped short of revealing any details about the engine’s capacity, power output, or whether it’s a full hybrid or simply a mild hybrid.
Carefully lit clips, and three still images released with them, ensure our focus stays on the gorgeous carbon fiber induction plenum that features the Bugatti name, a V16 script, and numbers revealing the firing order. Both sides of the plenum have two throttle bodies, each one feeding four cylinders, but the area beneath the plenums is hidden in the shadows, meaning we can’t make out much more detail.
Related: Bugatti’s Successor To The Chiron Set To Debut Mid-2024
An audio track laid over the footage lets us hear what the engine sounds like when ripping through a dual-clutch transmission, and while it doesn’t scream like a naturally aspirated Ferrari V12, it’s definitely got a crisper, angrier tone than the current quad turbo W16, which dates back to the launch of the Chiron two decades ago.
In our opinion, it’s also a better-looking engine than the one in the Veyron and Chiron, but we can’t help wondering how much room it’s going to take up in the firm’s new car. The current W16 is two narrow-angle V8s built around a common crankshaft, a design that makes for a short engine, albeit a wide one. So it’s possible that the Chiron’s replacement might need to grow in wheelbase to accommodate the extra length of the powertrain.
We can only guess at power outputs at this stage, but given that the Chiron Super Sport already makes 1,578 hp (1,600 PS), and the wave of Bugatti-priced electric supercars that have cropped up in recent years each make around 2,000 hp (2,028 PS), we wouldn’t be surprised if the V16’s power figure also started with a number two.
