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Bugatti says the W16's days are numbered

Bugatti's W16 engine is likely to be irreplaceable for the hypercar maker. The company's CEO Stephan Winkelmann has stated that there will not be a successor for the quad-turbocharged engine. Speaking to the Australian CarAdvice, Winkelmann said that there will not be a new 16-cylinder engine to replace the existing unit, but that the company will look further to the future. "This will be the last of its kind," said Winkelmann. "Sooner or later the legislation will force everybody to take radical steps. [...] If you want to be on the edge of advanced technology, it's important you choose the right moment to change." Currently, the nearly-1,500-horsepower engine does duty in the Chiron and the newly unveiled Divo. However, the W16, as it stands, isn't quite dead yet. Winkelmann stated that the company will do its "utmost" to keep the venerable engine alive, and that it will keep being honed further in the quest for more power, as the hypercar horsepower race is hot and heavy. Dinosaurs die hard, it seems. Still, Winkelmann is eager to push the envelope for an alternate approach, saying that the company could focus on different things than getting more power from the W16 unit. According to the CEO, if there is a hybrid powerplant or an electrified solution for future Bugattis, the powertrain needs to be more than up to the task. "If the weight of the batteries is going down dramatically — as it is — and you can reduce the emissions to a level which is acceptable, then hybridization is a good thing, but it has to be a solution that is credible for the people who are buying Bugattis today." Related Video: News Source: CarAdviceImage Credit: Bugatti Auto News Bugatti Luxury Performance Supercars

Bugatti Chiron storms Geneva with 1,500 horsepower

The LaFerrari, McLaren P1, and Porsche 918 Spyder have all come and gone, yet people the world over still put one hypercar on a pedestal above them all. It might not have had the hybrid electric power that the last wave of contenders used, but the Bugatti Veyron supplanted that with sheer animal brutality. Don't expect the Chiron to be any different. The Veyron had 1,000 horsepower when Bugatti launched it in 2005. The Chiron will have almost 500 more than that. Five. Hundred. Time will tell if Bugatti has rewritten the rulebook, like it did with the Veyron, but the Chiron's numbers are truly frightening. The 8.0-liter, quad-turbo W16 motor still sits behind the two-seat cabin, only now it thumps out – wait for it – 1,478 hp. It's the most powerful production street car the world has ever seen. If that's unimpressive, the W16 tortures its seven-speed dual-clutch transmission with 1,180 pound-feet of torque, too. That torque peaks at 2,000 rpm, and stays strong until full horsepower is delivered at 6,700 rpm. The turbos themselves are larger, capable of cramming in more air at higher pressures and the entire breathing and cooling system is all new. There's a new carbon-fiber inlet manifold, six catalytic converters and a titanium exhaust system that reduces the back pressure. The Chiron is about 340 pounds heavier than the Veyron, too, with Bugatti claiming 4,400 pounds, and that's a dry weight, without 26 gallons of gasoline licking the top of the tank. And it has a drift mode. For the demonstrably insane. A freaking drift mode. View 16 Photos Bugatti has once again limited the Chiron to a production run of just 500 cars and, before you ask, it'll take $2.6 million in spare change to secure one. Bugatti says it already has an order bank of 150 cars, or $390 million in fresh cashflow. The Chiron runs up to a limited top speed of 261 miles per hour. With the Veyron already at the limits of longitudinal acceleration, Bugatti says only that the Chiron will crunch through to 62 mph in less than 2.5 seconds, though the 0-62-mph sprint is less relevant to hypercars than it used to be. Perhaps more frightening is that it will burst from 0-124 mph in less than 6.5 seconds. Or that it rips from 0-186 mph in 13.5 seconds, a full three seconds quicker than the original Veyron.

Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse zooms into Jay Leno's Garage

Jay Leno's Garage very frequently features cars that are old, interesting and even low-tech. Two of those three have been thrown out the window (or out of the removable polycarbonate roof panel) for this episode, wherein our intrepid host puts the spurs to a 1200-horsepower Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse. (For those of you that have trouble keeping track of your Veyrons, that's the targa-topped one that costs about $2 million).
While Mr. Leno doesn't set any land speed record on the California interstate system, he does have a bit of fun taunting his camera car while giving us a very thorough walk-around of one of the most exotic new cars in the world today.
Scroll down to hear some big Bugatti turbos spinning.