CarBrandLogos archive · Bugatti · 2024

BugattiTourbillon

Sixteen cylinders again, but naturally aspirated, hybrid, and built around a watch.

Photo: MrWalkr · CC BY-SA 4.0

The story

A defining chapter in Bugatti history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Bugatti Tourbillon, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

When Rimac took operational control of Bugatti in 2021, the obvious move was an electric hypercar. Mate Rimac went the other way. The Tourbillon, revealed in 2024, replaces the Chiron's quad-turbocharged W16 with a naturally aspirated 8,355 cc V16 developed with Cosworth, revving far higher than the old engine and supplemented by electric motors, driving all four wheels through an eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox.

Bugatti Tourbillon I · Sokrates 399 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Design and engineering

The name comes from watchmaking, and so does the interior. The instrument cluster is a mechanical assembly of titanium and jewel bearings, made by Swiss watchmakers, fixed to the steering column so it stays still while the wheel turns around it. There is no permanent central screen; a display can be raised when needed and hidden the rest of the time. It is a direct rejection of the direction every rival has taken.

Bugatti Tourbillon · Francisco Antunes from Manchester, United Kingdom · CC BY 2.0

In production

Frank Heyl's body is longer and lower than the Chiron's, with the dorsal seam of the Type 57 Atlantic quoted along the roof and a heavily reworked rear that vents the engine bay through the bodywork. Production is limited and begins in 2026 at Molsheim. Whether the market wants a naturally aspirated combustion engine in 2026 is precisely the question the car is asking.

At a glance