One of the funniest bits on the old HBO show Silicon Valley had to do with car doors.
Tech-bro investor Russ Hanneman, after some poor investments, is forced to sell his McLaren, which he drove as a billionaire, and downgrade to a Maserati since becoming a lowly millionaire. His major hang-up: the doors. The McLaren had, in his words, “billionaire doors,” meaning they swung up like switchblades or the wings of a hawk. His Maserati sedan, on the other hand, had conventional doors that opened like those on a Prius.
I always found it odd that the Bugatti Veyron, which debuted in 2005, and its predecessor, the Chiron, unveiled in 2015, had conventional doors despite being two of the fastest things on the road, with multimillion-dollar price tags. They were remarkably easy to drive fast, had sumptuous interiors that were free of screens, and were truly built to be appreciated decades from now. But they lacked a certain drama when it came to getting in and out.
That finally changes with the new Bugatti Tourbillon, which was unveiled on June 20. It’s the first new design from the company since it merged with electric sports car maker Rimac in 2021. The Tourbillon gets what’s called dihedral doors, which swing out and up. We think Russ Hanneman would approve.
The doors are indicative of all the big changes that the $4.6 million Tourbillon represents. Bugatti says there’s not a single component shared between the Tourbillon and the Chiron it replaces.
Gone is the Chiron’s turbocharged W-16 engine. Hearing the air being forced through the four turbo wastegate valves was like listening to a dragon breathe, a truly distinctive sound in the car world. The Tourbillon, on the other hand, has an 8.3-liter V-16 that is naturally aspirated, meaning it will likely sound even gnarlier in an old-school muscle car kind of way.
In lieu of turbos, there are three electric motors, two at the front axle and another at the rear. In all, they produce 789 horsepower. Combine that with the engine and you get a mind-boggling total of 1,775 horsepower—that’s more than any previous Bugatti model. (Just to put things in perspective, the very powerful 2024 Porsche 911 GT3 has 502 horsepower.)
While the Tourbillon very much looks like a Bugatti, it’s lower, leaner, and wider, and the cockpit is narrower and feels even more analog than its predecessors thanks to what is sort of the car’s namesake, the watch-inspired gauge cluster, which is presented like a mechanical timepiece. A Swiss watchmaker builds the gauges. It’s the real deal, with raised numbers, physical needles, and scratch-resistant sapphire crystal coverings. Two hundred fifty Tourbillons will be made, and delivery is expected next summer.
Bugatti says the Tourbillon can go from zero to 60 mph in 2.0 seconds and hit 250 mph in about 25 seconds. That’s 0.3 seconds faster than the outgoing Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+. But perhaps more importantly, you’ll now look even cooler getting in and out of one.
