Bugatti Tourbillon: This is the 4 million euro heir to the Chiron

The super-rich are probably now starting to get nervous: who will be the first to receive the new Bugatti Tourbillon the year after next? If you are lucky enough to be allocated one, all you need is a well-filled wallet: a tourbillon costs 3.8 million euros – before taxes. If you were to buy one in Germany, you would have to pay just over 4.5 million euros. Ouch.

In return, however, you get the most powerful Bugatti that the Molsheim manufacturer has ever produced since the beginning of the VW era. The amazement begins as soon as you look at the driving data: the V16, an engine that should probably not be built much anymore for reasons of common sense, works together with three electric motors in the Tourbillon. But this is certainly not for economy, but has a major influence on performance: the car has a total of 1800 hp. 1000 of this comes from the combustion engine, the rest is provided by the electric drive. And, according to Bugatti, all this without a turbocharger. While the predecessors drew their power from four turbochargers, the Tourbillon breathes completely naturally.

Two seconds to 100, purely electric driving possible

Together with a weight of just under two tons, this means, above all, incredible performance. According to the manufacturer, it goes from 0 to 100 in two seconds, and with enough momentum the Tourbillon can reach 445 km/h. If you don’t push the super sports car to its limits, you can even drive it purely electrically for quite a while with the 25 kilowatt hour battery – Bugatti promises “more than 60 kilometers”.

As modern as all this sounds, the focus on timelessness was important to Bugatti. “In a car that will take part in concours meetings this century and in the centuries to come, the technology can easily become outdated,” they say. That is why, at first glance, there are no large screens in the Tourbillon. The large instrument cluster on the steering wheel, which incidentally does not rotate when you steer, is completely analogue. According to the manufacturer, it was designed with Swiss watchmakers and consists of over 600 parts.

Hence the strange-sounding name: Tourbillon (French for “whirlwind”). This is the name for a popular – and very expensive – complication of mechanical watch movements that makes it possible to compensate for the effects of gravity and thus improve accuracy. A tourbillon has been considered the “pinnacle of watchmaking” for over 200 years and is usually only found in the most expensive models of the various manufacturers. Bugatti states that they wanted to transfer the “feeling of mechanical timelessness” that a tourbillon exudes in a watch to the new model – and that is why they chose this model name.

Bugatti offers “timeless design” but still uses modern technology

The lack of modern elements is of course only an act – because both the electric drive and a screen speak a different language. But Bugatti at least has skillfully hidden the latter: only at the push of a button does a display extend from the otherwise purely analogue centre console and allows access to vehicle functions and the obligatory connection of a smartphone.

The interior also has other special features: the seats cannot be adjusted. Instead, drivers can adjust the pedals and steering wheel to suit their seating position. There are also no speakers; the music, should you want to hear it alongside the V16 concert, comes from the door and cockpit panels, which serve as resonance surfaces.

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