There’s already plenty of overlap between the automotive and horological worlds, including ventures into watchmaking from the likes of Rolls-Royce and Bentley. But it’s more rare to see a high-end automobile taking design cues from the world of high-end watches — and yet that’s precisely what Bugatti has done with their forthcoming Tourbillon. Alluding to a mechanism that nullifies the effects of gravity certainly has some evocative connotations, after all.
That’s one of a few distinctive elements of this new hypercar, which Bugatti notes is the first of its kind not to use the same W16 engine that powered the Chiron and Veryon. That shift in engineering helps explain the change in naming conventions — though that doesn’t mean Bugatti is ignoring its history in other ways.
“We draw from the Bugatti Type 35, where the whole shape of the car was guided by the shape of the horseshoe grille, tapering back into this streamlined fuselage shape,” Frank Heyl, Bugatti’s Director of Design, explained in a statement. “We find inspiration in the Type 57SC Atlantic — the S stood for Surbaissé, which essentially meant lowered — bringing down the frontal area, lowering the roofline, lowering the driver and creating this wonderful stance and proportion.”
As Road & Track‘s A.J. Baime observed, the Tourbillon is notable for another reason as well — it’s the first new Bugatti since Rimac purchased the automaker, merging the two companies. Rimac’s own forays into EVs have demonstrated enviable engineering, and the hybrid configuration here — including a V16 engine and an electric power train with a range of 37 miles — will weigh less than the Chiron.
To Top Out the Bugatti Chiron, You Need NASA’s Help
A former space shuttle runway recently became a venue for top-speed hypercar hijinks“With the Tourbillon, we have engineered a car that delivers the best of combustion technology and electrification; free from compromises and built with a timeless dedication to creating a memorable driving experience,” said Bugatti CTO Emilio Scervo. Only 250 Tourbillons will be made, and Bugatti expects to deliver them to buyers in 2026. As for the price, this kind of performance doesn’t come cheap; the asking price is just over $4 million.
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