Bugatti's All-New Hypercar Debuts Next Week. Here's What You Need to Know

At the end of May, the fabled Bugatti Chiron's production run finally ended with the 500th example of the W-16-powered hypercar. Bugatti didn't leave the world hanging for long about what comes next, however. The brand has announced the Bugatti's next generation of flagship hypercar will finally debut on June 20th, and while the fabled carmaker continues to tease the world with glimpses of the new

Here's what we know about that car — and its screaming V-16 powerplant — so far.

The first teaser reveals what appears to be the front end of the new Bugatti.

Bugatti has made no secret of the V-16 engine at the heart of the new creation. The brand has revealed it's a three-foot-long, naturally-aspirated unit that will be integrated with some sort of hybrid system to make an outrageous amount of power. We also know that Bugatti boss Mate Rimac won a battle with corporate parent Volkswagen to ensure that Bugatti produced another car powered by internal combustion, beating out proposals for a fully electric replacement for the Chiron.

"The business plan was to make an electric coupe-SUV type of thing," Rimac said at a conference in London earlier this year, according to Autocar.

As of yet, we don't know the details of the electrified portion of the powertrain. Typically, a hypercar with electrified elements would use its hybrid system to regenerate energy and release it back out to increase peak performance. That system is also typically run through high-voltage batteries, although other energy storage methods like flywheels and supercapacitors have been used in auto racing in the past. Considering all previous 21st Century Bugattis had all-wheel-drive, it seems quite possible the new model will use multiple electric motors to supply power to both axles.

The air intakes will remain a key Bugatti design element, if this teaser is anything to go by.

Performance remains unknown, but it'll no doubt impress; after all, the modern Bugatti standard starts at 1,000 horsepower. The outgoing model peaked at the 1578 hp of the Chiron Super Sport 300+, and given Bugatti's continuous push for excellence and improvement, a similar level of performance from the combined gas/electric system seems likely.

How fast will this new Bugatti go? Well, the aforementioned Super Sport 300+ was capable of more than 300 mph in Bugatti's testing, but customer cars were electronically limited to a mere 273 mph. In April, YouTube's Marques Brownlee posted a picture of what appears to be a drawing of the new car's timepiece-inspired analog speedometer that reads up to 550 kph, or a stunning 341 mph, which could hint at the new car's potential. Then again, given the challenges of creating tires capable available to challenge those speeds, a new record-setting Vmax may not be a major goal for future Bugattis.

Bugatti's glimpse of the new wheels also reveals some serious braking power.

As for the new hypercar's appearance, the brand says that the car will integrate design elements from three historic cars: the Type 57 SC Atlantic, Type 41 Royale, and Type 35. Bugatti boss Mate Rimac says that the car has an "evolutionary" exterior design, suggesting another mid-engined car in the general shape of the Volkswagen-era Bugattis that preceded it. A quick glimpse of the car shared by Rimac three months ago suggests the same thing. Spy shots shared by Top Gear go one step further, showing a Bugatti with a lower and sleeker look than the rounded Veyron and stately Chiron.

The sparse preview videos that Bugatti has shared on Instagram and other social channel have concentrated on many of the new car's details, rather than its overall shape. Among them appear to be three-dimensional tail lamps that use LEDs sculpted into the shapes of the letters that spell "BUGATTI," a front end featuring an elegant center strake running down towards the iconic horseshoe grille, complex and elegant wheels ahead of mighty carbon-ceramic brakes, and large side-mounted air intakes much like the Chiron and Veyron — with the bodywork in the teasers rendered a very Bugatti-appropriate shade of blue.

No matter the details, the goal of the car is clear: immortality. This newugatti is meant to succeed the Veyron and Chiron as the ultimate internal-combustion road car. Throughout pre-announcement marketing, Bugatti has stated that the Chiron's successor is "pour l’éternité." That translates, simply, to "for eternity."

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