“Management was saying the next car has to be electric,” he added, acknowledging that a rebadged and restyled version of the Rimac Nevera would have theoretically made a logical electric replacement for the Chiron. But maintaining differentiation between the two hypercar brands, while honouring the heritage of Bugatti, was essential.
Rimac said: “You could very easily and convincingly make a Bugatti out of [the Nevera] – just make a different design and call it a day – but I thought that was absolutely wrong for the brand.
“Luckily, I won that argument three years ago when electrification was all the rage, which it isn’t any more…” Rimac was referring to the perceived decline in demand for electric hypercars – acknowledging that his firm has still not sold all 150 Neveras.
In addition, Rimac said, any Bugatti powerplant should be “as emotional as possible”.
Referencing founder Ettore Bugatti’s famous slogan, he said: “You can achieve the power figures we have with the V16 from a very highly turbocharged V8, but we wanted to have it very emotional. It has to feel special, because ‘if it is comparable, it is no longer Bugatti’.”
As for that power figure, while refusing to be drawn into giving a specific number, he suggested the next Bugatti will have comfortably more than 1000bhp. Given the size of the engine and the introduction of a hybrid element, it seems likely the new car will comfortably eclipse the W16’s 1587bhp maximum.
It will be the first production car in decades to use such an engine, the last having been the ultra-rare Cizeta-Moroder V16T in 1991.
Bugatti has not given any more details about the engine, such as its capacity, but it has revealed a preview video that gives a first taste of the noise it will make – which you can watch below. Various reports say it is 8.3 litres in capacity, and has been developed by Cosworth, though neither Bugatti nor the British firm have confirmed these details.