Bugatti has manufactured its latest W16

four years ago, Bugatti announced the end of its most iconic engine. The mythical and beastly W16 was coming to an end. He did it with a last dance to match. During the last four years, the company has released 99 units of the Bugatti Mistral. Now, the last unit has left its factory.

The last Bugatti Mistral. The last Bugatti Mistral has left the doors of the company’s artisanal factory in Molsheim (France). A Blanc Éternel unit, inspired by the porcelain from Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur in Berlin.

The supercar, as pointed out in Autonomyadds numerous details in honor of Ettore Bugatti, founder of the company, but has the customization expected in a car of this type. They explain in the middle that, for example, the classic elephant head on the gear shift knob has been replaced by a falcon head that represents the Middle East, where this last unit has ended up.

The last of its kind. “The last of his kind.” So reads the tribute plaque found inside and on the spoiler of this latest Bugatti Mistral. This refers, of course, to the last dance of the W16 engine that dies with this supercar.

The Bugatti Mistral will go down in history for being the last model to mount an unparalleled engine but also because its production has been limited to 99 units. (sold in one day) that They have been customized from scratch by each owner. Thus, each unit can increase its value, costing some of them more than five million euros.

The supercar is the latest evolution of a series that began with the Veyron, which has continued with the Chiron and which has the last of its kind in the Mistral. A beast that has 1,600 HP and 1,600 nm of torque under its body. And a top speed that exceeds 400 km/h.

The W16. With the latest Mistral the W16 is also lost. This engine is considered one of the jewels of automotive engineering. Its configuration comes from “gluing together” two V18 engines. The result is the 16 cylinders that they mount. A figure to which we must add its 8.0 liters of displacement and four turbos with which first appeared on the Veyron just over 20 years ago.

Then the engine delivered 1,001 HP of power but this has skyrocketed to the 1,600 HP found in the brand’s latest supercars. The W16 is made up of 3,712 parts that add up to 400 kg. To achieve this reduced weight in such a monstrous engine, Bugatti produces its engines with large amounts of carbon and titanium, as light as they are resistant to high temperatures.

The idea of ​​developing this engine came from Ferdinand Piëch, engineer and grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, who resurrected Bugatti with the clear idea that it should represent the best and most exclusive in the world of motors. And, furthermore, he used the company to take cold revenge born in Le Mans in the late 80s.

And now? Now, the future for the company lies in the hybrid. When the company presented the Bugatti Tourbillon, it did so by anticipating what would come in the future: plug-in hybridization. And the supercar, limited to 250 units and starting from four million eurosis a 1,800 HP plug-in hybrid with which, who knows, if one day they will be able to break the barrier of 500 km/h top speed.

Yes, Bugatti’s proposal is to electrify the car to continue increasing the power of its machines. But it does it with a naturally aspirated V16 engine that no one else has. To this it adds three electric motors that also drive the wheels. The customer-facing concept is very similar to the W16: yes, it’s hybrid, but no one else has it.

And, as our colleagues from MotorpassionMate Rimac, CEO of Bugatti, is clear: “if it is affordable, it would not be a Bugatti.”

An uncertain future. It remains to be seen now what will become of Bugatti. A few months ago, the company was completely separated from the Volkswagen Groupwhich owned part of the property through shares in the name of Porsche. Mate Rimac has finally managed to completely control the company.

Bugatti was one of the crown jewels of the group but it was also a whim. With the less personalized units, Volkswagen was losing more than four million euros. Now he is Mate Rimac, creator of the electric supercar company that bears his name, who is at the forefront of this new era of the company.

Rimac was, in fact, the first to show a Tourbillon outside the factory. And he did it on a huge carpet of snow. It remains to be seen how Rimac manages to make profitable the investments and development that must be done for a car that is manufactured by hand and that, at least for the moment, will not jump to the electric car. The why, Mate Rimac himself can tell you.

Photo | Bugatti

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