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W16 Mistral is the moniker of “the ultimate roadster,” which is priced at a simply insane €5 million or precisely $5,020,675 at current exchange rates. Only 99 units will be made, with deliveries kicking off in 2024.
The Bugatti quad-turbo W-16 is an engineering marvel and a symbol of pure excess, but its days are numbered. When Volkswagen Group handed over control of Bugatti to Croatian EV manufacturer Rimac, it was clear that the ultra-luxury brand’s future would be entirely electric. The new Bugatti Mistral, which was unveiled at Pebble Beach during Monterey Car Week as the final model to use the W-16, is the car that signals that transition.
- The new Bugatti Mistral roadster will be the final W-16–powered car from the legendary Italian brand.
- Bugatti says the roofless Mistral, which is based on the Chiron coupe, will be the fastest open-top production car in the world.
- The Mistral costs $5 million and deliveries should start in 2024, but they’re already sold out.
Although it goes by a different name, the Mistral completes the life cycle of the Bugatti Chiron, as it is essentially a convertible version of that hypercar, which was previously unavailable. Only 99 Mistrals will be built, with each costing $5 million based on the current US exchange rate. Bugatti claims that they are already sold out ahead of the start of deliveries in 2024.
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Despite its close relationship to the Chiron, the Mistral is much more than a roofectomy. The design team gave it a radical new front end, one that evokes the predatory design language pioneered by the Bugatti Divo and the Bugatti La Voiture Noire, two previous ultra-limited editions. With fender-mounted lights and the trademark horseshoe grille at the end of an elongated snout, the Mistral is not a natural beauty. Nonetheless, it has more street presence than a parade float.
The cut-down windshield of the Mistral curves like a visor and matches the shallow side panels. Although no roof is visible in the official images, Bugatti told Car and Driver that the car will be available with a temporary clip-in panel rather than a full top. The Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse, the last open-topped Bugatti, was essentially a targa with a lift-off roof section. The Mistral has been permanently converted. Twin raised intakes behind the cockpit channel air to the engine compartment while adding a ram effect. They are linked together by a high-level spar. The X-shaped taillight elements at the rear span almost the entire width of the car and feature illuminated red Bugatti branding.
The engine is the existing 8.0-liter W-16 with four turbochargers and 1578 horsepower. That’s the same power as the Chiron Super Sport 300+, which broke the production-car speed record in 2019. Power is delivered to the road via a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission and all-wheel drive. Bugatti hasn’t released specific performance figures for the Mistral, but it will have a top speed of at least 260 mph. The company also wants the Mistral to “become the fastest roadster in the world.” That would, however, necessitate officially breaking the 254-mph record set by the Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse in 2013.
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The Mistral’s interior design appears to be what’s least changed from the Chiron, sharing the same dashboard, instrument cluster, steering wheel, and center console. At least this should make it a comfortable place to spend time, although a much breezier one compared with its coupe counterpart. The car shown at Pebble Beach wears a striking yellow and black color scheme that was inspired by the similarly roofless 1934 Type 57 Grand Raid. The latter had bodywork by coachbuilder Gangloff, and it’s now part of the collection at the Louwman Museum in the Netherlands.
Bugatti’s W-16 was willed into existence by Ferdinand Piëch, one of the most famous and ambitious automotive engineers of all time. Piëch’s goal was to create what he believed would be the most powerful engine ever fitted to a homologated road car, something that both the Veyron and Chiron achieved. With the end of the combustion era rapidly approaching, the 16-cylinder’s position on top seems unassailable. Once production of the Mistral is complete, Bugatti will become an EV brand, albeit one that still makes ultra-luxury cars with ultra-high performance.
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