AUTOMOBILES
BUGATTI MISTRAL A $5 million love letter to the iconic W16 powertrain | BY SOMNATH CHATTERJEE
W
hile electrification is looming large upon the high-performance supercar segment, stringent emission norms are sounding the death knell of big gasoline engines. One of the great powertrains which would be confined to the history books would be the W16 which first made its debut with the iconic Bugatti Veyron. The Veyron rewrote that performance car rulebook and ripped apart the goal posts in terms of automotive engineering with its top-speed and the glorious powertrain while also making it work in a seamless manner. The fact that you can drive a Veyron like any ordinary car is a feat. The Chiron that followed was a grounds-up overhaul of the Veyron recipe with even more power along with a more streamlined design approach. With the Bugatti and Rimac being together, it is largely known that the W16 would be replaced with something else. However, while future Bugatti’s won’t be full electric, the iconic configuration of multiple cylinders will be played last in the Mistral. It is a one last blast for this engine and to make it a more surreal experience, the W16 would be heard better with no barrier between the driver and the engine. The roofless Mistral is also way more than just a Chiron roadster as the styling along with the ethos is a lot more delicately steeped within Bugatti history. The name itself has a sense of mystique being called after a wind that blows from the Rhône River valley, through the towns of the Côte d’Azur in southern France and into the Mediterranean. Rather apt as the car is all about embracing the concept of open-top motoring albeit with a mighty W16 behind you.
14 | UPSCALE LIVING MAGAZINE | FALL 2022
The car uses the 1600PS configuration of this engine from the sportier Chiron Super Sport but Bugatti have also gone to considerable lengths to give the Mistral its own unique identity. The design is arguably the most striking one that we have seen from Bugatti along with a veneer of aggression draped alongside the classic design ethos. The horseshoe grille is there but the front-end is radical with the Divo and La Voiture Noire being the inspiration. The rear meanwhile takes a leaf out of the more hard-core Bolide with the X-shaped lights. Also, some other design attributes clearly show that it is not just a Chiron based convertible since we love the way the windscreen creates a visor like effect which also neatly blends into those distinctive side intakes. There are also new roof-mounted engine air scoops which are a nod to the Type 57 Roadster Grand Raid, as well as the first open top Bugatti of the modern era: the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport. The interior is like the Chiron but we are not complaining while the door panels are obviously new. The aluminum gear shifter also carries Rembrandt Bugatti’s ‘dancing elephant’ sculpture and that serves to remind you that Bugatti is all about craftsmanship as much as it is about immensely powerful cars. Bugatti says that the entire production run of 99 units is already sold out even if it costs $5 million each. It is after less of a car and more of a love-letter to one of the greatest engines ever made.
