The extraordinary Bugatti Chiron is only just hitting the streets, and the rumour mill is already churning at full speed regarding its successor. Despite the current Chiron surpassing the Veyron in performance, the company admits it will have to electrify its cars in the future to ensure that Bugatti’s performance is always a benchmark, which nullifies all other cars on the road.
Bugatti CEO Wolfgang Dürheimer was quoted saying: “Electrification will happen. 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. It will still be too soon for a full electric car, I think – but electrification will happen.”
The market is evolving, and that will inevitably require Bugatti to evolve simultaneously to keep up with the competition. Although a hybrid setup may not appeal to the purist driver, it will be interesting to see what Bugatti can accomplish with hybrid technology. The prominent holy trinity, the Porsche 918 Spyder, McLaren P1, and Ferrari LaFerrari are remarkable cars, despite their introduction dating nearly 5 years now. With hybrid technology evolving quickly, and the next Bugatti expected for production no time soon, the potential outcome of refined hybrid technology in Bugatti’s hands, could be revolutionary.
Accepting that the era of pure combustion engines is coming to an end is a bitter pill to swallow, but also makes sense. The Bugatti Chiron, with its quad-turbocharged 8.0-litre W16 petrol engine that develops 1479 horsepower, is a monumentally epic car. Considering its 0-100 km/h sprint takes less than 2.5 seconds, it does raise the question: how much further can we develop combustion engines to provide the performance necessary in today’s competitive hypercar market, whilst obeying stringent government regulations? Dürheimer commented that there “will probably never be a car with the pure mechanical capabilities of the Chiron”.
Bugatti has been hinting at a potential possibility for a second model in its line-up, which would delay the production of the next Chiron replacement. Should there be a second model approaching Bugatti’s catalogue, then its expected release will be around 2024, pushing the Chiron replacement’s launch to 2032. To date, 280 of the planned 500 Chiron’s have been sold according to the company.
“We are looking at what customers want if we do something different, and we have some ideas, but we are not under pressure to decide – production of the Chiron is expected to last for around eight years. We are at the predevelopment phase, preparing technically and asking clients what they expect.” said Dürheimer.
