Bugatti Boss Slams Hybrid Supercars And Reveals His Unexpected Dream Car

Mate Rimac reveals his dream project, critiques hybrid supercars, and hints at a dramatic future for Bugatti performance

The most well-known automotive CEOs tend to be people who love cars. Think Tim Kuniskis and Mate Rimac. That last one, now at the helm of Bugatti, recently sat down for an interview where he shared some surprisingly candid thoughts, and a few interesting tidbits.

Apparently, Rimac’s future dream garage includes building a special restomodded BMW E30, though before he gets to that, he’s got quite a few Bugatti variants to work through first.

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Dreaming of a high-horsepower E30 isn’t new for Mate. His career largely began from behind the wheel of an E30. He famously ditched its gas-burning powertrain and swapped it for battery packs and an electric motor. Why would he want to restomod such a car with a big V10 in the future? His thoughts on Bugatti’s latest car, the Tourbillon, provide some insight.

Speaking to Top Gear about recently testing the car, he says, “Look how fast it revs, that noise.” The audible sound and rumble from a V16 isn’t something you can get in an EV, but that doesn’t mean that electric motors don’t have a place in his world.

The Tourbillon makes 1,800 combined horsepower (1342 kW) in large part thanks to an electric system that supplies 800 (596 kW) of those ponies. Why not also add turbos to the mix though? Mate says that doesn’t make sense while he shades brands like Ferrari, Lamborghini, and McLaren.

“I have driven them all,” he said of turbocharged hybrid supercars. “And I don’t get it really. Why would you have a hybrid powertrain with a turbo engine? Like, a turbo engine is a compromise on its own, right? By going from turbo to naturally aspirated, we lost 600 hp. I knew we could more than make up for it with the electric powertrain. So the electric powertrain enabled the cool combustion engine. In the Tourbillon, you have 70km of all-electric range while others in electric mode are super limited.”

What’s Next for Bugatti? More Options Than You’d Expect

Perhaps the most exciting bit of news from the interview was about what we can expect in future Tourbillon iterations. “There are many things you can do with this hybrid powertrain,” he told TG. “You can make a version without hybrid, or with it minimised, or without the [driven] front axle, whatever.” This seems like an all-too-obvious future but one that no other supercar builder has really opened up about exploring.

Removing hybrid components from the Tourbillon would no doubt slow it down some, but would potentially offer a more raw and visceral experience for buyers. It’s possible, too, that it would enable some performance benefits if the weight savings are high enough. Who doesn’t want a rear-wheel drive V16 supercar? Nobody, that’s who.

Making Ownership Slightly Less Painful

Rimac also wants to make the ownership experience as luxurious as the car itself. What does that mean in practical terms? Keeping running costs down. “Look at the LaFerrari and P1, and 918, people get a bad battery, and it costs hundreds of thousands to replace,” he explained. “We want to make sure this is never the case with Tourbillon. A Bugatti has to be super reliable and worry-free, because that also ensures resale value.”

For Bugatti, that means working on wheels and tires that aren’t egregiously expensive to replace. It means covering maintenance costs for the first four years of ownership, and designing components to last decades, not just a few years. Rimac might be just 37, but it appears clear that his impact on the brand will last a long time. That’s not too bad for a guy who dreams of dropping a V10 into an E30 M3.