We all know hypercar maker Bugatti's cars are stunning to look at and ridiculously expensive, but some of the details in the new 16-cylinder hybrid Tourbillon are remarkable even in the modern car world.
For a start, the new €4.5-million Tourbillon, which is named after a device for boosting accuracy in high-end timepieces, does not have a reverse gear, even if it can still go backwards.
It uses one of two electric motor to rotate the rear drive shafts in both directions. The driver slots the pretty, crystal-glass selector lever in the transparent centre console to "R", and the electric motor whirrs into life.
The car is powered by an all-new 8.3-liter naturally aspirated V16 engine - engineered with the help of Cosworth and paired with a front e-Axle with two electric motors and one electric motor mounted at the rear axle.
It also has choke lever, something which has vanished from the modern motoring world. Older drivers will remember this dashboard device used to help start carburettor-fitted cars by enriching the petrol/air mixture but naturally, the Tourbillon's version is tongue-in-cheek.
It is an engine start button that fits in well well with the analogue concept of the car, which eschews modern digital tech in favour of oldschool solutions which will not date so easily.
At the touch of a finger, the round start button moves out of the transparent centre console. Pull on it and the huge 1,800 hp motor bursts into life.
There is also no fussy "lane assist" to tug this car back on track if the driver wavers from the correct highway lane.
The device is mandatory on new cars from 2026, but Bugatti boss Rimac clearly considers it an insult to drivers of this machine for the chosen few which can top 445 km/h in standard trim.
The new hypercar also does not have exterior cameras integrated into door mirrors or radar components to spoil its sleek, handsome design.
The central windscreen wiper is a throwback to the Mercedes-Benz single wiper set-up of the early 1990s. It splits the windscreen into two halves and is also common on racing cars which need raindrops to scatter from the driver's field of vision at high speed.
Forget plush, power-adjustable seats with a memory function too. In the Tourbillon the figure-hugging perches are fixed and bolted directly to the chassis.
This also follows racetrack practice and saves weight into the bargain. It enables the car to be 33 millimetres flatter than the Chiron which went before. To accommodate the extremities of different drivers, the Tourbillon has an adjustable steering wheel and foot pedals.
Digital screens are noticeable by their absence. The Bugatti Tourbillon has a little one for the mandatory reversing camera but it is tucked away in the dash when not in use. Naturally it pops up within seconds when needed.
Design director Frank Heyl believes the primary element that dates a car is an oversized screen. "What was state-of-the-art 10 years ago, is now ugly," he told the Robb Report luxury industry website. "The Tourbillon is designed to be timeless."
The mechanical three-dial analogue gauge cluster is another exclusive feature. Users can navigate via smartphone and digital instruments are nowhere to be seen and the collaboration with a Swiss movement looks like the inside of a watch.
Made of more than 600 tiny components, it using the kind of precious materials found in ultra-expensive wrist watches. The two-spoke steering wheel is also amazing and orbits around a stationary centre.
At the rear, huge exhausts, a giant carbon-fibre diffuser and a rolling wave of LED lights with illuminated "Bugatti" lettering, let everyone know what kind of car has just shot past. The engine is also open to the elements which boosts cooling.
Bugatti said the Tourbillon will not go on sale until 2026 and road testing has only just begun in earnest. The company says it aims to build 250 examples of the car.
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