Bugatti is working on a successor to its Chiron hypercar, a car that Mate Rimac, the CEO of the Bugatti-Rimac partnership, said in February would be a hybrid rather than an electric hypercar – something that given its inception the EV -Technology many surprised the company Rimac.
Now Rimac has another surprise. In an interview with Auto Express published on Thursday, Rimac revealed that his tech company began developing the engine for the Chiron’s successor two years ago, when it first worked with the Volkswagen Group over taking control of Bugatti and founding it of the Bugatti Rimac partnership.
The need for a new engine was clear as Bugatti planned to phase out its famous quad-turbo 8.0-litre W-16, which it is now doing with the Chiron-based Mistral roadster, and Rimac was adamant that he wanted the Chiron successor to be a hybrid. In his interview with Auto Express, he said Bugatti is planning an electric crossover to succeed the Chiron and that he needs to convince management that a hybrid hypercar is the way to go.
Buddy Rimac
“It wasn’t an easy time, but I knew exactly what I wanted as the next car [after the Chiron] to be and we started to develop an internal combustion engine ourselves,” he said. “We started developing a new internal combustion engine two years before taking over the company, which probably nobody expected.”
The hybrid route will help set future Bugattis apart from Rimac’s electric hypercars. According to Rimac, Bugattis will also continue to focus on craftsmanship, analogue dials and beautiful design, while Rimacs will continue on the more modern path of more technology like autonomous modes for drifting or driving hot laps.
Rimac said Bugatti will show us something next year. However, production of the Chiron successor will probably not start for a few years, as Bugatti still has almost 100 Chirons to build and then has to build the 99 planned Mistrals.