Bugatti Tourbillon Explained: A V16, Three Motors, and a Mechanical Watch for a Dashboard

Bugatti replaced the Chiron with a clean-sheet hybrid hypercar built around a 9,000-rpm Cosworth V16. Here is what the Tourbillon is and what makes it singular.

The Bugatti Tourbillon is a mid-engine hybrid hypercar unveiled in June 2024 as the successor to the Chiron.^[1] It shares no components with its predecessor, yet it keeps Bugatti’s signature horseshoe grille and two-tone bodywork, and it arrives with butterfly doors on a two-door coupé body.^[1] Production is capped at 250 cars at 3.8 million euros each, with assembly beginning in 2026 at Molsheim, France.^[1]

The powertrain

Where the Chiron era was defined by the quad-turbo W16, the Tourbillon goes naturally aspirated. Its 8,355 cc V16, built by Cosworth, produces 1,000 PS on its own and revs to a 9,000 rpm redline.^[1] Three electric motors add another 800 PS, bringing the combined total to 1,800 PS, or 1,775 hp, with 2,300 N·m of torque.^[1] An 8-speed dual-clutch transmission and all-wheel drive put it to the road, and the plug-in hybrid system offers about 60 km of electric range.^[1]

The numbers

Bugatti targets 0-100 km/h in under two seconds.^[1] Top speed is limited to 380 km/h, and with the speed key engaged the car will run to 445 km/h.^[1] The speed key is a Bugatti tradition, and its presence here signals that the Tourbillon intends to defend the marque’s claim to the far end of the speedometer.

The name is the thesis

A tourbillon is a watchmaking complication, and the car takes the reference literally: the instrument cluster is fully analog and watch-inspired, built with mechanical gears rather than screens.^[1] Underneath sits a lightweight T800 carbon chassis.^[1] In an era when hypercar cabins have become software showcases, Bugatti built a dashboard designed to be beautiful in fifty years. That decision says as much about the car’s intent as the engine does.

The Tourbillon’s place in Bugatti’s lineage is clear. The Veyron proved the concept, the Chiron industrialized it, and the Tourbillon reframes it: electrification in service of a giant naturally aspirated engine rather than as a replacement for one. It is a hybrid built to preserve character, not efficiency figures.

The complete specification and background are on the full Bugatti Tourbillon database page. To follow the market as cars come to it, watch the current Tourbillon listings.