Bugatti Chiron successor will be 'electrified'

Advancements in battery and motor tech means electric power is 'certain', says company chief

Bugatti electric
(Image credit: Lennart Preiss/Getty Images for Bugatti)

Bugatti's successor to its £2.1m Chiron hypercar will be powered by some form of "electrification", says chief executive Wolfgang Durheimer.

"The next car is a long way from being developed, but the way battery and electric motor technology is moving on, as well as regulations, it seems certain that the next car will be electrified in some way," he told Autocar.

"It will still be too soon for a full electric car, I think, but electrification will happen.”

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

He added there would "probably never be a car with the pure mechanical capabilities of the Chiron" and that it "may never be beaten in pure mechanical terms", making it "incredibly desirable".

On the current Chiron, which debuted at the Geneva Motor Show last year, power comes from a 8.4-litre quad-turbocharged W16 engine that produces 1,479bhp and 1180lb-ft of torque. That's 300bhp and 80lb-ft more than the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, which broke the top-speed record for a production car at 258mph.

Motor1 says the Volkswagen-owned luxury car firm is "analysing the prospects of launching a second model and is currently investigating what its customer would like".

However, releasing a second model into the range "might cause a delay" to the launch of the electrified Chiron replacement.

It's not yet know what body style Bugatti will choose if its builds a second car, says Autocar, although it did create the more practical five-door Galibier concept in 2009.

That car did not get the green light for production, but the magazine says a similar vehicle could be on the radar.

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.