Legislation will choke the glorious beast eventually.
Bugatti is a marque that, in recent history, has predominantly made headlines for its amazingly-fast, stratospherically-expensive, and unbelievably-exclusive hypercars, all of which have called upon a very beautiful engine that has not only propelled the car to great speeds, but also put it firmly in the upper echelons of hypercar royalty. The W16 engine, the result of parent-company Volkswagen essentially putting two V6 engines beside each other, also gives Bugatti’s cars a very unique soundtrack that to this day remains exclusive to the French brand.
However, it looks like it won’t last much longer in this world. At the fringes of Monterey car week, brand boss Stephan Winkelmann talked about the future of the W16. Or rather, why there isn’t one.
“Sooner or later, the legislation will force everyone to take radical steps. There will be no new 16-cylinder, this will be the last of its kind. It’s an incredible engine and we know there is huge enthusiasm for it. Everybody would like to have it forever, to continue to develop it — we will do our utmost to keep it alive — but if you want to be on the edge with advanced technology, it’s important you choose the right moment to change.” — Stephan Winkelmann, CEO, Bugatti
We’ve known this for a while now: As glorious as the W16 engine has been, since it debuted in the Veyron and was further sharpened before being employed in the Chiron and the Divo, it had an expiry date stamped on it whether we were willing to accept it or not. While fans will undoubtedly be upset knowing that it’ll be going the way of the dodo, there simply isn’t room for it in the world of tomorrow. Look at other established marques: Porsche’s going headlong into electric mobility, Ferrari keeps flirting with hybrid technology, and Lamborghini’s admitted that it won’t be long before their cars fit some sort of electric wizardry into the powertrains too.
Moving forwards, Bugatti will likely adopt the electric path, but they’ll be mindful of the performance it offers. For Winkelmann, it’s critical that no matter what form the W16-replacement takes, it has to be comparable to the mammoth motor it’s replacing.
“If the weight of the batteries goes down dramatically, and it is, and you can reduce the emissions to a level that is acceptable, then hybridisation is a good thing. But it has to be a solution that is credible for the people who are buying Bugattis today.” — Stephan Winkelmann, CEO, Bugatti
Concluding his interview with our friends at CarAdvice, Winkelmann did say that while the W16 will have to be retired soon, it’ll be reworked and rewired to produce even more grunt before it finally dies out. This uprated version of the W16 will likely power the final editions of the Chiron and/or Divo, before an all-new model brings about an all-new powertrain.
“When I was at Lamborghini, I always said power-to-weight ratio is the key. We always reckoned one kilo less is more important than one horsepower more. But we also discovered that there is a race for more power, an ongoing battle, and everybody is looking for more and more. We are far out at Bugatti, far from being compared, but I think it still matters to many people. I think that the race for more power is not over, unfortunately in my opinion, because we could do different things.” — Stephan Winkelmann, CEO, Bugatti
The march of next-generation powertrains continue, and while we’ve slowly begun to accept the arrival of forced induction in Ferrari, downsized-turbo engines in Lamborghini, and electrified powertrains from Porsche, quite a number of ardent auto freaks were pinning their hopes on Bugatti to keep its glorious W16 engine alive. It’s a tough pill to swallow, but knowing Bugatti, whatever they bring about next will likely be just as drool-inducing and characterful as the W16. They’d better not screw this up.
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