Since 2005, the Buggati W16 powerplant has found its way into the creme de la creme of supercars, including the Veyron, Chiron, Divo, Centodieci, as well as the Bolide. And while we were told the Bolide would be the last to house the 8.0-litre quad-turbocharged goliath, just days ago, Bugatti unveiled an open-top roadster to close the chapter in style: the Bugatti Mistral.
Utilising the latest 1,600 PS spec engine found in the Chiron Super Sport 300+, the Bugatti Mistral is probably one of the most insane convertibles ever produced. The silhouette may look familiar, but it was actually designed from scratch to ensure the tub and aerodynamics played nice with that ludicrous torque on tap.
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Bugatti Rimac CEO Mate Rimac said: “For the final roadgoing appearance of Bugatti’s legendary W16 engine, we knew we had to create a roadster. Well over 40% of all Bugatti vehicles ever created have been open-top in design, establishing a long lineage of performance icons that – to this day – are revered the world over.
“In the Chiron era there had, to date, been no roadster, so the introduction of W16 Mistral continues this legacy, driven by enormous demand from our clients for an all-new way to experience the mighty performance of our iconic engine. The W16 Mistral opens the next chapter in the Bugatti roadster story, inspired by over a century of open top legends.”
Bugatti has drawn inspiration from the iconic 1934 Type 57 Roadster Grand Raid, and although the two cars couldn’t be further apart in specifications, the homage is clear. The W16 Mistral features a curved windscreen that visually sweeps around the A-pillars, which resembles the visor on a racing helmet.
Bugatti Design Director Achim Anscheidt said: “To reflect the W16 Mistral’s new character, we also totally reinvented its frontal appearance, in line with the vertical layout of our unique or few-off models like Divo and La Voiture Noire.”
“It’s immediately imbued with a sense of exclusivity; the vertically stacked headlights are completely bespoke and the famous horseshoe grille is reimagined to be much more three-dimensional; both deeper and wider.”
“At the rear, we challenged ourselves to create a striking but also more elegant iteration of Bolide’s X-theme taillight motif, which forever left its mark on the world of automotive design.”
While the Mistral will undoubtedly turn some heads with its aesthetics, the numbers behind this bad boy are guaranteed to spin them. Bugatti’s last roadster – the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse – set a world record of 408.84 km/h using a measly 1200 PS spec W16. The one inside the Mistral? The same 1600 PS donk propelled the Chiron Super Sport 300+ to 490.48 km/h. For reference, that’s 1,577 horsepower.
The Bugatti W16 Mistral Roadster is currently priced at €5 million ($7.3 million) and limited to just 99 examples. Unsurprisingly, the entire allocation has already been sold out with deliveries expected to start in 2024.
