Bugatti-Rimac hybrid hypercar will be ‘totally bonkers’

If you’re a Bugatti fan and have wondered about the successor to the Chiron in the wake of the manufacturer’s merger with Croatian EV manufacturer Rimac, wonder no longer.

Mate Rimac, founder and CEO of Rimac Automobili said an interview with Auto Express the Chiron’s successor will be a “hypercar rearranged as a hybrid,” and that the engine powering it is already in development. It will the first time Rimac will use combustion power and Bugatti hybrid technology.

For those not sold on the idea of electric power, don’t worry. Rimac, leading the development of the post-Chiron hypercar, told Auto Express the vehicle will be “totally bonkers” and that “everybody will be blown away when they see what we did.”

The forthcoming vehicle follows Rimac’s 2021 purchase of Bugatti from the Volkswagen Group with Porsche obtaining a 45 percent stake in the Bugatti-Rimac brand. It will also debut in the aftermath of Bugatti’s announcement it will no longer produce the quad-turbocharged W16 that propelled so many of its fastest vehicles.

Rimac began to develop an internal combustion engine oprior to the merger with the Chiron’s successor in mind. Bugatti had a different path in mind for the successor presented the possibility of an electric crossover. Rimac “immediately stopped” this proposal. Producing a high performance, two-door more accurately represents the values of both automakers.

Fusing ideas and technology between the two brands will create a unique vehicle, with all new components. Bugatti and Rimac want to keep the automakers from becoming interchangeable. Mate Rimac has plans to extend his brand by creating “affordable” four-seater and four-door vehicles in contrast to Bugatti’s focus on eliteness, exclusivity and a correspondingly higher price point.

“It’s completely new, so there is not one part carried over from any car; nothing carried over from the Chiron, nothing carried over from Nevera. Everything is from scratch,” said Rimac.

Rimac foresees Bugatti largely using mechanical power forming “more beautiful” vehicles with “analog instruments, kind of watch-making stuff.” Rimac, however, will stick to “absolutely insane, bonkers, full-electric – drifting at 60 km/h (37 mph) with a gigantic cloud of smoke behind you, autonomous drift modes, futuristic stuff.”

Bugatti-Rimac’s new hypercar is said to be in its final stages of testing and is slated to debut next year. Production, however, won’t begin until much later. Bugatti has completed production of the final Chiron and all 99 Mistrals are also pending.

Mason Bloom is a reporter for TheWeeklyDriver.com. When he is not writing about industry news, new car reviews or covering live motorsport events, he is a sophomore at Aptos High School on the California central coast.