Bugatti announced on Thursday morning plans to replace its flagship quad-turbo W16 engine with a new V16 hybrid powertrain. The company released a short sound clip alongside the announcement teasing what the engine will sound like, and now, thanks to Bugatti-Rimac CEO Mate Rimac, we're able to take a long at some behind-the-scenes development photos of the power plant.
The Croatian CEO shared a handful of photos to Facebook on Thursday afternoon showing development of the V16 engine, including photos of the block, the crankshaft, and the pistons.
A couple of pictures of early prototype V16s. This was actually in November 2022 and we already had full engines running...
Posted by Mate Rimac on Thursday, February 29, 2024
Though the V16 might be news to us, it's been in the works for at least 14 months, according to Rimac. The CEO claims these photos were taken in November 2022, and that the company already had running engines testing on dynos at the time.
"It was very hard to keep quiet about such an amazing development," Rimac said on Facebook. "And there are many more such surprises waiting with the rest of the car! I am incredibly proud on what the team has managed to pull off and not go crazy with me over the last years."
Aside from the V16 hybrid powertrain, we don't know much about Bugatti's next hypercar. It will be the first entirely new product launched by the brand since Rimac's and Porsche's takeover of Bugatti in 2021, which saw Rimac take a 55-percent stake, while Porsche claimed the remaining 45 percent.
With development of the V16 so far along, we might not have to wait much longer to see what sort of vehicle it'll call home. The internal combustion engine is far from dead. Color us excited.
