New Bugatti hypercar has a naturally aspirated, one-metre long V16

The long-awaited replacement for the Bugatti Chiron will be revealed next month, packing well over 1000bhp from a hybrid system that's based around a naturally aspirated V16 engine. The company recently revealed the shape and layout of the engine – as well as its screaming soundtrack (below) – but CEO of Bugatti-Rimac Mate Rimac has now given new details in an interview at the Financial Times Future of the Car conference in London. While keeping most cards close to his chest, he revealed that the colossal engine will go without forced induction, unlike its W16 predecessor which inhaled through four turbochargers.  Related articles The engine itself, he added, will measure a whopping one-metre long in its own right, some 400mm longer than the four-bank unit from the Chiron.  Despite that, though (and the integration of a substantial electric drivetrain element), the car will be a similar shape to its predecessor, Rimac suggests: "The exterior is an evolution - you can still see the very distinct Bugatti design." Certainly, spy shots circulating the internet in recent weeks suggest it will bear a familiar silhouette, but be somewhat lower and sleeker than the Chiron it replaces. Mate Rimac, despite being best known for his pioneering work creating electric hypercars and supplying battery tech to a number of global car manufacturers, said he was a driving force behind bringing the V16 to fruition.  Before his firm took over Bugatti from the VW Group, he said, "the business plan was to make an electric coupé-SUV type of thing".  "Management was saying the next car has to be electric," he added, acknowledging that a rebadged and restyled version of the Rimac Nevera would have theoretically made a logical electric replacement for the Chiron. But maintaining differentiation between the two hypercar brands, while honouring the heritage of Bugatti, was essential.  "You could very easily and convincingly make a Bugatti out of [the Nevera], just make a different design and call it a day - but I thought that was absolutely wrong for the brand. "Luckily I won that argument three years ago when electrification was all the rage, which it isn't anymore...", Rimac said, in reference to a perceived decline in demand for electric hypercars - acknowledging that his firm has still not sold all 150 Neveras.  Plus, Rimac said, any Bugatti powerplant should be "as emotional as possible". "You can achieve the power figures we have with the V16 from a very highly turbocharged V8, but we wanted to have it very emotional. It has to feel special, because 'if it is comparable, it is no longer Bugatti'," he explained, referencing founder Ettore Bugatti's famous slogan.