PARIS (AFP) – Supercar maker Bugatti on Thursday showed off its first hybrid car with a top speed of about 445 kilometres an hour and a price tag of more than USD4 million.
The company said the 1,800-horsepower Tourbillon car is now in its “testing phase” and that deliveries of the 250 planned cars would start in 2026.
The car, with its carbon body and 3D-printed parts, has three electric motors and one newly designed 1,000-horsepower fuel engine.
The electric battery only has an autonomy of 60 kilometres, however, said the company which is owned by Porsche and Croatian company Rimac.
When Rimac, a maker of electric sports cars, took a major stake in Bugatti in 2021, observers had predicted that the luxury carmaker would soon have an electric model. But the owner, Mate Rimac, said in May that the super-rich who are Bugatti’s main clients were turning against electric supercars.
Also going against the grain of the rest of the car industry, the Tourbillon has only a small screen for digital indicators.
The speedometer, rev counter and other indicators are placed just behind the steering wheel in a system in “titanium, sapphire and rubies” that was designed and made by Swiss watchmakers.
Made at a factory in Molsheim in eastern France, the Tourbillon has a “starting price” of EUR3.8 million, the company said.
