CONNECT WITH US
EV & Mobility

EV & Mobility

Volkswagen Wanted An Electric Bugatti Tourbillon, But Mate Rimac Pushed For A V16 Engine

Motor1 logo

Published on

Add as a preferred source on Google
Volkswagen Wanted An Electric Bugatti Tourbillon, But Mate Rimac Pushed For A V16 Engine

The Volkswagen Group wanted Bugatti’s Chiron successor to be electric. Still, Mate Rimac pushed for a different approach: a clean-sheet design with a naturally aspirated V16 engine at the heart of a hybrid setup. His experience with the Nevera convinced him that demand for ultra-expensive electric hypercars was too limited to justify turning Bugatti’s flagship into a pure EV.

When Rimac took control of Bugatti alongside Porsche in 2021, the VW Group was moving aggressively toward electrification in the wake of the messy and immensely costly Dieselgate. In theory, an electric hypercar would have aligned with that strategy while allowing the French marque to benefit from Rimac’s expertise in high-performance electric powertrains.

However, Rimac wasn’t interested in taking the easy route. As he explained in an interview with Automotive News Europe, the quickest and most cost-effective solution would have been to put a Bugatti badge on the Nevera and call it a day. Instead, he wanted a completely different product that would offer customers something they couldn't get from his own electric hypercar brand.

'On paper, it could be Bugatti [on the Nevera’s platform], right? Plus, it would be a lot easier than doing a completely new car with a new combustion engine. However, that is what I ended up doing with the Tourbillon because based on the feedback from the market on the Nevera I realized the market was going in a different direction.



Source link
Related Topics:EV & Mobility

Disclaimer

We strive to uphold the highest ethical standards in all of our reporting and coverage. We TheMorningPulse.fyi want to be transparent with our readers about any potential conflicts of interest that may arise in our work. It's possible that some of the investors we feature may have connections to other businesses, including competitors or companies we write about. However, we want to assure our readers that this will not have any impact on the integrity or impartiality of our reporting. We are committed to delivering accurate, unbiased news and information to our audience, and we will continue to uphold our ethics and principles in all of our work. Thank you for your trust and support.