The new Bugatti Mistral was presented at the weekend during Monterey Car Week.

Only 99 of the huge roadster, which costs six million euros, are planned.

It will be the last Bugatti with the W16 engine, after which only hybrid models will come before Bugatti also becomes a purely electric brand.

Boris Schmidt

Editor in the "Technology and Engine" department.

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But it's not that far yet.

Bugatti had invited to the E-Werk in Berlin for a preview of the Mistral.

Chief designer Achim Anscheidt explained the car and said that they wanted to go back to the roots with it.

That's why it's a roadster.

After all, almost half of all 7,900 Bugatti built before the war were open cars.

And the E-Werk was built between 1924 and 1928, the time when Bugatti was in its heyday.

In addition, Berlin will be important for the brand because the newly founded Bugatti Rimac GmbH will pitch its tents in the capital.

Founded in November 2021, the company is 55 percent owned by Mate Rimac and 45 percent by Porsche.

While Anscheidt was still raving about the beautiful and sophisticated forms of the "last of its kind", the journalists present had only one topic: why on earth did Bugatti call this car Mistral?

Couldn't there have been anything more grippy, nothing more extraordinary?

Anyone who knows even a little bit about (old) cars immediately thinks of the Maserati Mistral sports car, which was built from 1963 to 1970.

Almost 1000 pieces were made.

Top speed should be 420 km/h

Designer Anscheidt said that almost all of the 99 planned cars have already been pre-ordered.

If you want one, you have to hurry.

He doesn't see the name as a problem, it was free and the marketing was enthusiastic.

Admittedly, there's also the express train from Paris to Lyon, the surfboards and a number of others who call themselves after the wind from the Rhone Valley.

The 99 units would probably have sold if Bugatti had named them after a Nordic wind.

For the money, the customer gets the well-known W16 engine with eight liters displacement, 1600 hp and a maximum torque of 1600 Nm.

The top speed should be 420 km/h.

It stays with all-wheel drive and the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.

In technical terms, it wasn't the goal, Anscheidt reported, as a designer he's more interested in shapes and colors and aerodynamics anyway.

The flow behavior must be perfect, he said, alluding to the broad front.

"Because what you do wrong here, you can no longer correct in the back." It is also extremely important that the car can still be identified as a Bugatti in 30 years.

Actually, the term roadster is the wrong term for a nearly five meter long super sports car.

Yes, it is also a two-seater and at best has an emergency top, but a roadster is commonly thought of as a little runabout like an MG B.

As usual in Alsace

Inside, the Mistral is refreshingly old-fashioned.

There is no navigation monitor, just a lot of buttons and switches, but the controls are digital.

It was said in Berlin that work was in progress on a vegan interior.

They still rely on leather and carbon.

As usual, the 99 valuables will be built in Alsace in Molsheim, the traditional Bugatti location.

But it won't start until 2024, this year and next they will be busy producing the Chiron, which will then be phased out.

In 2025 Bugatti will start into the electric future.

We are curious.