The W16 engine of Bugatti will live on "for the next decade"

The CEO of the luxury car maker, Stephan Winkelmann, calls the powertrain a “USP that is not decreasing in value.” The quad-turbo W16 powertrain of Bugatti still has life despite the broader trend toward downsizing, according to Bugatti chief Stephan Winkelmann.

He acknowledged that Bugatti could have a group of other engine options to choose from within the Group Volkswagen arsenal owned by the parent company, but said that the “mission for a Bugatti is different” from the other brands in the group.

Speaking about his hypercars, as opposed to any potential second model, Winkelmann commented that “the W16 engine has, in my opinion, a future. It is a USP that is not decreasing in value.” He added that the head of the Group Volkswagen, Herbert Diess, “knows the value of a W16 engine.”

Speaking more broadly about internal combustion engines, he pointed out that “if it lasts another decade, ICE will be the last of its kind, and being the last of its kind means it is collectible.”

The current Bugatti engine will be alive for at least ten more years

“If there is hybridization, the battery will be replaced but it will not be original. The internal combustion engine is something that will grow in value. People buy Bugatti because they want to enjoy maximum performance, but also, and this is legitimate, because it is an investment.”

“The Bugatti EB110 is skyrocketing. And the Bugatti Veyron are rising. I don’t have to be a wizard to predict that this will happen to the Bugatti Chiron, and therefore I commit to the fact that this is the way forward for the hypercar in the next decade.”

Since the inclusion of Bugatti in the Group Volkswagen, models with exorbitant prices and their alternatives, both lower and higher in value, have turned out to be one of the recurring unconfirmed rumors or projects for this brand.

Thus, with the commercialization of the Bugatti Veyron, the feasibility of offering a four-seater vehicle was studied, equivalent in luxury to the two-seater and with a price and potential similar to but always below the model on sale at the time. The prototype, named the Bugatti Galibier Concept, was realized and shown to the clients closest to the brand, but it did not receive the green light.

With the replacement of the Veyron itself, the rumor mill has not fallen silent and, encouraged by the inclusion of other high-end brands in the SUV fashion such as the British Aston Martin with its DBX or the premium Bugatti rival Lamborghini, which produces the Urus, it is impossible not to think that this manufacturer is considering more firmly than ever the possibility of offering a car more affordable than the Bugatti Chiron.

Be that as it may, the person responsible for bringing the new Bugatti to fruition is the experienced Stephan Winkelmann, former CEO of Lamborghini and creator of the extraordinary Bugatti Divo, an evolution raised to the nth power of the Chiron that doubles the price of the car it is based on and reduces production to a minimum to make the parts produced true treasures.