Bugatti Rimac has unveiled its next generation hypercar, Ettore Mate V16T. Under the guidance of new owner Mate Rimac, the new hypercar adds a quartet of electric motors, but surprisingly it also features a large-capacity internal combustion engine as all previous Bugattis did.

"I want to preserve the emotion signature of Bugatti," said Rimac. "It's the biggest assets of the brand, as these days any Chinese EVs can run 0-60 in a little more than 1 second."

To that end, Bugatti opts to build an enormous V16 engine, the largest used in any road cars since the days of Type 41 Royale. It displaces 13.5 liters and employs 4 turbochargers - a tribute to the EB110, Veyron and Chiron. The block is sourced from Volkswagen group, believed to be the unsold stocks of Bentley's 6.75-liter V8, and two of them are bonded together with adhesives and tape to save weight.

To enhance rev and power to meet customer's expectation, Rimac overhauled its internals. CNC-milled crankshaft, forged alloy pistons with diamond-like coating, titanium con-rods and valves, carbon-tube pushrods work together with a pair of new 4-valve heads and carbon-fiber intake system with individual throttle bodies, enabling a 9000 rpm redline. Output is known to be in the region of 2000 horsepower at around 8000 rpm, accompanied with 1700 pound-foot of torque. In addition to a quartet of 300 hp electric motors, the new hypercar will have more than 3000 hp for disposal.



To show off the prominent engine, Bugatti decides to install it at the front of the car rather than hiding it at the back. Twin-carbon-fiber bonnet opens to let people viewing its 16 cylinders, with transparent polycarbonate bonnets listed as option.

The 20kWh battery is installed at the rear axle to help it achieve 50:50 weight distribution. It can be charged at home socket or from regenerative braking.

"The V16 engine is surprisingly economical to run, too," said Rimac. "We give it a very sophisticated cylinder deactivation technology, which can practically turn it from V16 to V14, V12, V10, V8, V6, V4 or V2, seamlessly and instantaneously."

"What's more amazing is, this gives us different exhaust sound frequency to play with, actually a full octave," Rimac said excitingly. "We experimented to use the cylinder deactivation to play the Happy Birthday song or Amazing Grace. It's truly a musical engine!"