Bugatti has confirmed that its next-generation hypercar will be revealed next year before going into production in 2026, marking an end to the glorious Chiron era. The iconic car brand also announced the retirement of Achim Anscheidt, Bugatti’s director of design since 2004. Speaking to Autocar magazine, Anscheidt said the yet-to-be-named Chiron successor will debut next year and arrive with a hybrid powertrain. “The car is finished,” he said. “We delivered the prototype tooling a couple of months ago and the production tooling will be delivered in a couple of months from now.”
The next-generation Bugatti hypercar will be the first model to be launched under the leadership of Mate Rimac who took over as CEO of the new Bugatti Rimac. While the Croatian upstart has made its name in the industry with its record-shattering electric hypercars and EV technology, the Chiron successor will be powered by a hybrid powertrain with a combustion engine as its primary source of power. The French manufacturer has already confirmed that it won’t be the brand’s legendary W16 powerplant; however, the specifics have not been revealed. Autocar reports that the hybrid powertrain will use a V8 engine assisted by electric motors.
Ever since the Veyron debuted nearly 20 years ago, all the Bugatti hypercars have been powered by the celebrated 16-cylinder engine. The new hybrid powertrain will definitely change the character and personality that have become synonymous with the legendary carmaker over the last two decades. But, Mate Rimac confirmed in an interview last year that the upcoming hybrid hypercar will be “totally bonkers.” As for the pricing, Bugatti has remained tightlipped. However, we won’t be surprised if the starting price of Chiron’s successor is close to $5 million.
At the beginning of last year, the French automaker had announced that all the 500 planned build slots of the Chiron had been spoken and the last remaining cars were being hand-built at the company’s Molsheim factory. However, the marque surprised everyone at the end of 2022 by introducing an additional one-off Chiron trim named Profilée. With the distinction of being Bugatti’s last available W-16-powered hypercar, the bespoke model was auctioned for a record-breaking $10.7 million at RM Sotheby’s auction in Paris in February this year.
Chiron was revealed at the Geneva Motor Show on 1 March 2016 as the successor to the Veyron. Named after the Monégasque driver Louis Chiron, the hypercar carried over the 8.0-liter quad-turbocharged W16 engine from its predecessor; although, it was heavily updated. The French manufacturer also learned its lessons from the Veyron as it struggled to sell the last few builds of the hypercar. To counter this problem, Bugatti introduced various different iterations of the Chiron, offering more exclusivity to its customers. This included the likes of the Chiron Sport 110 Ans Bugatti, the Chiron Super Sport 300+, and even the $18.9 million La Voiture Noire. Bugatti is expected to continue using the strategy with the upcoming hybrid hypercar.
