Bugatti’s W16 engine gets its send-off in the open-top Mistral

Article content

Bugatti mid-August unveiled the last car it will ever build with its iconic 8.0-litre quad-turbocharged 16-cylinder engine, the W16. The W16 Mistral car is based on the Chiron Super Sport, but in a new turn for the body style, loses the roof.

Article content

With the top off, the car should be able to get to a speed of almost 260 mph (418 km/h), thanks to that now-retired 1,600-horsepower engine. It employs the same 1,578-bhp version of the 8.0-litre mill that propelled the Chiron Super Sport 300+ to a record-breaking 304.773 mph (490.48 km/h) in 2019.

“For the final road-going appearance of Bugatti’s legendary W16 engine, we knew we had to create a roadster. As a result, well over 40 per cent of all Bugatti vehicles ever created have been open-top in design, establishing a long lineage of performance icons that — to this day — are revered the world over,” Mate Rimac, Bugatti-Rimac CEO, said in a statement.

“In the Chiron era, there had, to-date, been no roadster, so the introduction of W16 Mistral continues this legacy, driven by enormous demand from our clients for an all-new way to experience the mighty performance of our iconic engine.”

Article content

With a price tag of more than $5 million, the W16 Mistral boasts a tweaked monocoque and a fresh exterior and interior design that takes styling points from its La Voiture Noire, Bolide, and Divo cousins. Debuting in black, like the pre-war Bugatti Type 57 Roadster Grand Raid, the car is an ode to classic and modern design.

The two-new roof-mounted engine air scoops are also a nod to the aforementioned Type 57 Roadster Grand Raid, as well as the first open-top Bugatti of the modern era: the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport.

“It’s immediately imbued with a sense of exclusivity; the vertically stacked headlights are completely bespoke, and the famous horseshoe grille is reimagined to be much more three-dimensional, both deeper and wider,” Achim Anscheidt, Bugatti design director, said in a statement. “At the rear, we challenged ourselves to create a striking but more elegant iteration of Bolide’s X-theme taillight motif, which forever left its mark on the world of automotive design.”

The La Voiture Noire-inspired wrap-around windscreen merges into the side windows, provides the roadster with a distinctive appearance, and produces a “visor impression,” according to Bugatti. The Bolide’s distinctive X-shaped taillights also feature, though designers say adapting that part of the car to wide production “tested” them the most. As a result, the double-twin pipes used on the Chiron Super Sport have been replaced by a square exhaust, as seen on the Chiron and Veyron.