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Bugatti has unveiled its new model, the Bugatti Tourbillon, a massively powerful hybrid with an equally massive price tag.

The new model will replace the 1,500-horsepower Bugatti Chiron, taking the power and price up to a staggering 1,800 horsepower at $4 million (R72 Million).

Most people expected the new Bugatti to be electric but despite Bugatti divorcing Volkswagen in 2021 and merging with Rimac, a Croatian company that makes the all-electric Rimac Nevera supercar, the chief executive of the new Bugatti Rimac, Mate Rimac, said he never had any intention of making an all-electric Bugatti.

Instead, the engineers and designers wanted to create something that ‘retained the spirit of mechanically powered Bugatti cars, just better’: An insanely powerful plug-in hybrid.

 

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The new Bugatti Tourbillon will have a massive 16-cylinder petrol engine, much like the Bugatti Chiron and Veyron models did before it. Three strong electric motors will support the engine, which was created in collaboration with the British racing car engineering company Cosworth. At least 800 horsepower will be produced independently by the car’s two front motors and one rear motor.

According to Bugatti Rimac, the Bugatti Tourbillon will have a maximum power output of 1,800 horsepower. Mate Rimac said they wanted this new engine to be “naturally aspirated,” meaning there would be no turbochargers.

“We wanted to make the most exciting, most emotional combustion engine possible, and that is high revving, naturally aspirated.”

The Tourbillon is named after a set of gears that helps maintain accuracy in a mechanical watch. The Bugatti’s instrument display is modelled on mechanical watch dials.

“One of the first things we did when the new company was formed, I took the whole team to Switzerland and we visited a few watchmakers,” Rimac told CNN.