Bugatti Chiron successor spied

The first image of the Bugatti Chiron replacement – one of the world’s fastest road cars – has been spied ahead of its global debut in June 2024.

An image of the rear end of a camouflaged prototype posted to Germancarforum – as well as a side-on photo published by the UK's Top Gear – show the new hypercar will adopt a slimmer, leaner appearance than the Chiron.

The images show a ‘double bubble’ roof with a central ‘spine’ down the centre of the vehicle, an active rear spoiler which raises or lowers depending on the vehicle’s speed, and a slim tail-light bar stretching across the vehicle's rear end.

It looks to take some inspiration from the Bugatti Mistral, the finale for the chassis of the W16-powered Chiron, unveiled in 2022 – as well as the one-off La Voiture Noire, another Chiron-based hypercar.

The forum photo was allegedly taken an employee of Rimac, the Croatian supercar maker which purchased 55 per cent of Bugatti from Volkswagen in 2021. The remaining 45 per cent was bought by German carmaker Porsche.

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The Croatian licence plates on the test vehicle are another nod to Rimac's influence.

The Chiron’s successor – the name of which is yet to be revealed publicly – won’t use the 8.0-litre W16 quad-turbo engine which made up to 1600 horsepower (1193kW) evolved from a similar engine in the 2005 Veyron, the Chiron's predecessor.

Rather, it will adopt hybrid power, matched with a new engine – still with 16 cylinders, but now oriented in a 'V' configuration – with two 'banks', each containing one row of eight cylinders, rather than two rows of four cylinders on each of the two banks of the W16.

Reports claim the engine will be an 8.3-litre, non-turbo unit created by UK motorsport specialist Cosworth, developing 735kW (1000 horsepower) on its own – and aided by three 250kW electric motors and 24.8kWh battery for 1323kW (1800hp) combined.

The Super Sport 300+ version of the Chiron has achieved a verified top speed of 490.4km/h at Volkswagen's test track, but it is not considered a true record as it was only conducted in one direction, and the showroom version of the record car has a 440km/h speed limiter.