i respected Mate before but respect him even more so now
of course it wasn’t just him - he consulted with VW CEO on this project but still, Mate is the CEO of Bugatti now so it was ultimately his responsibility and i’m incredibly impressed how he was able to take over another company and understand what that other company is all about …
just think of how different this Tourbillon is from Rimac Nevera - both built from the ground up by Mate …
that he could build such completely different cars is beyond impressive and at this rate i think he will be CEO of VolksWagen group within 10 years.
i think VW struck gold by brining Mate under their wing.
any idiot can build a 2,000 hp car that does 0-60 under 2 seconds and has top speed over 300 mph. the challenge with something like Bugatti is how do you do that while making sure it is still a Bugatti and not just another Koenigsegg.
when Mate created Nevera i was like - so what ? So it’s a fast EV - big deal. It was an ugly car with no character - and people spending that kind of money aren’t paying for 0-60 times. 0-60 times is something people with Civic Type R worry about, not something Ferrari let alone Bugatti drivers have on their mind.
With the Tourbillon Mate has shown that he understands what a car is about.
for example Mate admits that he could have used a Turbo V8 with more power than the Naturally Aspirated V16 he actually used, but Turbo V8s are a dime a dozen - only Bugatti has 16 cylinders.
by dropping the turbos Tourbillon can make better noise, so that everybody can hear those 16 cylinders. and the three electric motors more than make up for the loss of four turbos.
of course this concept is nothing new. it’s the same layout as in the Corvette E-Ray or the new Acura NSX etc - it is the layout which i explained is the new gold standard for sports cars - rear mid engine, front motor.
but notice how the same concept allows cars to still differentiate themselves by using different engines - the NSX used Twin Turbo V6 because Acura is known for V6 engines … the corvette uses a V8 because corvette is known for V8s … and Bugatti uses 16 cylinder because that’s what bugatti is known for …
it has NOTHING to do with power. after all Rimac Nevera has more power with ZERO cylidners and Koenigsegg ( Rimac and Koenisgsegg work together ) makes a lot more power from Turbo V8 than the new 16 cylinder Bugatti engine does …
as i keep explaining VW group is not in the business of trying to make the fastest car possible like people buying Teslas probably imagine … instead VW wants every car to remain true to its own heritage - so they want Porsche 911 to remain rear-engine flat-six not because that is a good setup, but because that’s the identity of the 911.
likewise they kept 16 cylinder in bugatti because 16 cylinder is bugatti identity. they could have easily taken two 911 GT RS engines and combined them into a single quad turbo V12 that would make 1,400 hp and also be smaller than V16 and perfectly balanced, but with 40% more power and double the torque.
but it was not about power. the power is ENOUGH. it was about creating something that is unique, emotional, and unmistakably bugatti.
as i keep saying we are entering a post-performance era where it is not about numbers anymore. in the electric age 0-60 times are as important as breast size is in silicone implant era, or muscle size in steroid era.
no today you need more - you need personality. the car is a work of art first, an expression of who you are, and 0-60 is almost irrelevant.
sure in Europe you can get like a 4 cylinder diesel in a BMW 5 Series that will be slow as a snail, and even in America the base 530i will be slow but those do not pretend to be sports cars. anything with sporty aspirations, that is anything that is “M” or “AMG” will be fast ENOUGH.
the real problem with modern M and AMG cars isn’t that they are slower than Tesla - it’s that they are UGLY.
the Tourbillon has better looking INTERNALS than modern BMWs have front fascia …
ask yourself this - what will get you more pussy - a classic Mustang or a Tesla Model 3 Performance ? actually some women refuse to even date guys with Teslas because the word got out that many fuckboys use Tesla as their identity and as a substitute for having personality …
Model S Plaid will get you pussy but only because it has a menacing stance being low and wide with wide tires - NOT because of any 0-60 times or Autopilot.
Style is a timeless value - Performance is a fleeting gimmick.
