Two decades ago, Bugatti shocked the automotive world with the launch of the Veyron, boasting a four-figure horsepower rating, and then proceeded to shatter the long-standing land speed record for production cars by achieving a top speed of 253 mph.
With its successor, the Chiron, Bugatti chose to downplay the car's top speed capabilities. Bugatti's former chief, Stephan Winkelmann (now head of Lamborghini), even stated in 2019 that Bugatti would pursue performance targets other than top speed.
He remarked that after Bugatti sent a version of the Chiron to a top speed of 304.7 mph, making it the first company with a production car to crack the 300-mph mark.
However, under new management, Bugatti's new boss is fully intent on pushing the top speed envelope. When asked by The Drive during August's Monterey Car Week whether Bugatti was finished with speed, Mate Rimac, head of the Bugatti Rimac business overseeing hypercar development for both the Bugatti and Rimac brands, replied, “It was. It isn't.”
Bugatti Chief Technology Officer Emilio Scervo provided more details, explaining that Bugatti will continue to aim for new top speeds but not at the expense of the comfort and emotion that Bugatti customers demand.
“So we’re still going to pursue to push this barrier higher, but keeping this in a way that is very Bugatti, very comfortable,” Scervo told The Drive.
Under Rimac's guidance, Bugatti has delivered a successor to the Chiron in the form of the Tourbillon. The car, set to enter production in 2026, was revealed in June with a plug-in hybrid powertrain combining a naturally aspirated 8.3-liter V-16 engine with a trio of electric motors for a combined output of 1,775 hp.
The car's top speed is capped at 276 mph, but a true Vmax above 300 mph wouldn't be surprising, considering the Chiron in 1,577-hp Chiron Super Sport 300+ form already went 304.773 mph. However, that isn't considered the world land speed record for a production car, at least by Guinness. To get into the record books, an average of two speeds is used with the car running in opposing directions within the space of an hour to eliminate the effects of the road surface's gradient and any tailwind.
Because the Chiron 300+ only made the one run to 304.7 mph, the SSC Tuatara is considered to hold the record with its speed of 282.9 mph achieved in 2021.
While SSC appears to be out of the race for a new record, Bugatti faces one other major threat, and that is Koenigsegg with its Jesko Absolut. The Swedish marque has previously claimed its hypercar could potentially go beyond 300 mph.