- Bugatti W16 Mistral testing is coming to an end
- The Bugatti W16 Mistral marks the end of the W-16 for Bugatti
- Deliveries of the 99 units to be built will begin later this year, each costing US$5 million.
O Bugatti W16 Mistral roadster entered final testing, ending the automaker’s partnership W-16 era closer.
After aerodynamic and dynamometer testing, the prototypes are now accumulating mileage to judge drivability, emissions, safety and other factors in real-world conditions, Bugatti said in a news release. One prototype has already covered 32,000 kilometers (19,883 miles), and the plan is for it to accumulate another 5,000 kilometers (3,106 miles) — more than most current customer cars, Bugatti noted.
Bugatti Mistral
One remaining item on the checklist is to check O Mistral’s top speedwhich Bugatti estimates at over 261 mph thanks to complicated aerodynamic characteristics. This depends on gaining access to a suitable test track.
“We are planning to execute the high speed final test “The test will be conducted on one of the few tracks around the world that allows us to perform the test in safe conditions,” Emilio Scervo, CTO of parent company Bugatti Rimac, said in a statement. “The moment we have access to that track, however, reaching top speed will no longer be a problem.”
Bugatti Mistral
Unveiled during the 2022 Monterey Car Week, the Mistral is the first Bugatti convertible since 2015. That’s because, unlike the Veyron, a The Bugatti Chiron Roadster was not planned. But hoping to send the 8.0-liter quad-turbo W-16 engine out in style, engineers redesigned the Chiron’s carbon-fiber monocoque structure to maintain rigidity without a roof. The changes were significant enough to require a new round of crash testing, Bugatti noted.
With deliveries scheduled for the end of this year, the Mistral is priced at $5 million. Production will be limited to 99 units, all of which have already sold out. These will be the last Bugatti W-16 road cars, but the automaker is also planning a batch of 40 Bolide racing cars. The successor to the W-16 cars, the Bugatti Tourbillon, sports a naturally aspirated 8.3-liter V-16 that is part of a 1,800 hp plug-in hybrid powertrain. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2026.