Bugatti goes Big In Japan as the Mistral continues its world tour
The Bugatti W16 Mistral’s farewell world tour continues. The 8.0-litre combustion engine at the heart of the astonishing €5m hypercar marks the last pure combustion engine Bugatti will build, and so it’s being played off like a 20 minute jazz solo.
We turn then to the land of the rising sun. Japan. Notable for its passionate automotive audience and astonishing car culture, the Mistral took in a number of stunning sights to set its bespoke body against.
Like the Kanda Myojin Shrine – considered one of the oldest temples in Tokyo – as well as Oishi Park, Gora Kadan (the former retreat of the imperial family) and of course, the glorious backdrop of Mount Fuji. Could have done a few laps of the Speedway while it was there.
Because, once more for the back row, it’s the final outing for the venerable W16. “This is the last of the line,” Bugatti design director Achim Anscheidt told TG at the car’s reveal in 2022. “People will be acutely aware that this is the last of its kind, that it’s something very significant. Approaching this project reminded me of the last cars Jean Bugatti did in the pre-WWII era.”
Significant is a good way to explain a 1,578bhp, 16-cylinder powertrain wrapped around an ‘extensively reworked’ open-topped body. Indeed, “well over 40 per cent of all Bugatti vehicles ever created have been open-top in design,” Bugatti boss Mate Rimac told TG last year.
As one story ends, another begins. We know Bugatti is working on an entirely new combustion engine for the next generation of hypercars (a combustion engine Rimac had to ‘fight furiously’ for, because both Porsche and VW management wanted the next car to be fully electric). It’ll be ‘strongly’ hybridised of course.
The Mistral’s farewell world tour meanwhile, continues. Next stop, Singapore.
