Reports of Bugatti W16’s death are an exaggeration
As it turns out, when Bugatti says a W16-powered hypercar is ‘the last of its kind’, that doesn’t mean it's the last full-stop.
Bugatti doesn’t seem to know how to stop making hypercars with its famed W16 engine in the back, teasing yet another model to be revealed in the coming weeks.
Understood to be revealed during the upcoming Monterey Car Week in California later this month, Bugatti has only issued a teaser video, but it’s clear this new model will continue on with its most famous centrepiece.
“The Sculpture of Speed. Captured, shaped, preserved,” Bugatti’s teaser reads, before referencing its Programme Solitaire bespoke division.
Just last week, Bugatti announced the final of 99 W16 Mistrals, the last evolution of the Chiron-based, open-top hypercar which was to bid farewell to the legendary engine.
Simply known as ‘The last of its kind’, that motto is inscribed throughout the special vehicle, both in the cabin and under the rear wing, celebrating its significance to the model line.
The Mistral itself was unveiled at the Monterey Car Week in 2022, with the event providing significance to the brand which is now no longer owned by Porsche, after the German icons sold their 45 per cent stake in the Bugatti-Rimac joint venture to a consortium led by New York-based HOF Capital.
It’s not yet known what shape the new model will take, though as with all of the Programme Solitaire vehicles, it is expected to be incredibly exclusive.
Jordan Mulach
It’ll also join a surprisingly growing club of vehicles farewelling the W16, since Bugatti announced its next ground-up hypercar, the Tourbillon, will feature a naturally aspirated V16 engine and three electric motors.
For the W16’s farewell tour, first there was the Brouillard, the Veyron-inspired F.K.P. Hommage, the W16 Mistral ‘Caroline’, the Blanc Éternel in May, and then the ‘Last of its Kind’ last month.
At the time, Bugatti said the latter was the “closing chapter [to] the W16 engine's road-going story”, suggesting the engine’s final bow could come in the form of a track-only model.
The Bolide had served as the flagship of the range as a track-only model, with its W16 engine producing an eye-watering 1361kW and 1849Nm, all without electrification, making it the most powerful version of the powertrain yet.
Its quad-turbo W16 engine dates all the way back to the Veyron of the mid-2000s, then the world’s fastest and most powerful road car.
