It’s The Beginning Of The End For The Bugatti W16

We can’t wait for the V16-powered Bugatti Tourbillon to hit the road. In the year of 2025, with everything going electric and boring, here’s a hypercar with a new sixteen-cylinder engine with a 9000rpm redline and a metre-long crankshaft. Utterly bonkers.

For that to happen though, one of the greatest engines built, well, ever will have to make way. That being the Bugatti W16.

The 8.0-litre, quad-turbocharged unit was the headline piece of the engineering marvel that was the Bugatti Veyron. Although we’ve become accustomed to it now, a car released in 2005 that produced 987bhp was a mind-boggling thing.

Of course, the W16 would propel the Veyron into immortality by becoming the world’s fastest production car that same year, reaching a recording two-way average speed of 253.81mph. And then again in 2010, with the Super Sport in 2010 reaching 267.856mph.

Its successor, the Chiron, would continue to use the W16 albeit it cranked up to a remarkable 1479bhp. Though the base car wouldn’t carry the Veyron’s torch of breaking official production car speed records, the Chiron Super Sport 300+ would become the first road car to officially break the 300mph barrier.

Now though, its demise is near. The Mistral – another one of those limited editions that sprung from the Chiron – has entered production with the first customer cars now being delivered. It’ll be the last car to use the W16, and just 99 are set to be made. The first two complete cars have been shown off, and both will be heading to the USA.

We’re pretty pleased with whoever specced the cars – it’s not clear who has bought them, although both are heading to the same customer. One has been finished in a very subtle white paint with small French tricolores on the side skirts, plus a red pinstripe across the top. We’re fans of that delicious white interior too, though we hope the driver isn’t planning on wearing blue jeans.

The second is effectively a reverse of the Chiron’s original launch colour. It’s predominantly black, with a blue rear-centre section and a matching interior. We wouldn’t call that sedate, but we’re here for it.

So this is it. The first of the last W16s. A sad day will soon be upon us, but at least its follow-up should be almighty.