Back in 2005, the Bugatti Veyron achieved its massive power figure through relatively old school means. Namely turbochargers (four of them) and more cylinders than the Jones’ (16 of those). That 8.0-litre motor gave it a performance edge that could not be matched by rivals at the time, but since then electrification has leveled the playing field somewhat.
Current generation hypercars - Porsche 918 Spyder, LaFerrari, McLaren P1 - can achieve similar outputs and a more responsive engine through pairing an electric motor to the already high-performance combustion engines, enabling much faster lap times and quicker acceleration.
However, with the Veyron’s successor, the Chiron, Bugatti has not subscribed to the electric revolution. Instead, the car uses an extensively reworked (95 percent new components) version of the same quad-turbo W16 engine that now produces 1,103kW.
That might not be the whole story, though, as a report by Autocar UK claims that Bugatti isn’t ruling out a hybrid version of the Chiron during its lifecycle, during which on 500 will be produced - matching the Veyron.
In a conversation with Bugatti CEO Wolfgang Dürheimer, he said that boosting the Chiron’s already lofty output further through an electric motor isn’t out of the realm of possibility. However, he insists that the aim of such a move would not be to improve urban drivability or fuel economy but would serve no purpose but to move the performance yardstick further.
Given how the car’s monstrous engine requires a cooling system like no other, using 11 radiators, packing more components into the Chiron poses one of the largest obstacles of pursuing a hybrid system.
The Veyron’s production run lasted a decade and the Chiron’s reign has just begun, leaving ample time for the possible appearance of a hybrid Bugatti hypercar. “This is something we have under consideration now. We will see what the future brings,” Dürheimer added.
