Bugatti is finally ready to start talking about its new 16-cylinder engine.
The company’s CEO, Mate Rimac, went into detail about the V-16 that will power it next hypercar at the Financial Times’s Future of the Car summit (via Autocar). The new mill, which we already knew would be electrified, will also forgo turbochargers and measures nearly 40 inches in length.
We’ve known for some time that Bugatti’s iconic W-16, which has powered all of its cars since the Veyron, was on the way out, but it wasn’t until the end of February that the marque unveiled its successor. The new V-16 will sit at the heart of the brand’s first hybrid model, but until now that was all we knew for certain.
During the conference, Rimac revealed that the new model’s V-16 will be naturally-aspirated. That means it won’t make use of forced inductions, a stark contrast to the W-16 in the Veyron and Chiron, which featured a quad-turbocharger setup. This choice was made to ensure the vehicle, despite the presence of a hybrid system, would be as “emotional” as possible.
“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,” he told the audience. “It has to feel special, because, ‘If it is comparable, it is no longer Bugatti.’”
Additionally, Rimac said that the new mill measures 39.4 inches, or one meter, in length. That makes the new engine, which has its cylinders arranged in two blocks of eight as opposed to three blocks of six, 15.7 inches longer that its predecessors.
That’s all Rimac was ready to reveal, but it’s hard not to be intrigued by some of the other rumblings going on. There’s a belief that the V-16 was developed by Cosworth, will have an 8.3-liter displacement (compared to the W-16’s was 8.0 liters) and rev up to 9,000 rpm, according to Motor1.com. Additionally, it sounds like the new mill will produce around 1,000 hp by itself and that, when combined with the hybrid system’s three electric motors, total output could exceed 1,800 horses. There’s also thought it could have up to 37 miles of electric-only range.
Fortunately, we won’t have to wait much longer. Bugatti’s next model, its third since being rebooted by VW Group in the late 1990s, is set to be officially unveiled next month.
