It is also Bugatti’s last gasoline-powered car. Future models will be hybrid.
Only 99 Mistrals will be made and all have already been sold before the car is even unveiled to the public on Friday in Carmel, California, according to Bugatti.
“There can be only one goal in mind: to once again become the fastest roadster in the world,” the company said in its announcement.
Bugatti did not specify what the expected top speed of the Mistral might be. The last time Bugatti could claim to have the fastest convertible in the world was in 2013, when a Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse convertible ran 254 miles per hour on the Volkswagen test track in Germany. .
The current top speed record for convertibles is claimed by the Hennessey Venom F5 Roadster manufactured by Hennessey Performance Engineering of Texas. This $3 million, 1,800 horsepower car hit a top speed of 265.6 miles per hour in 2016.
Convertibles generally have lower top speeds than hardtop cars due to poorer aerodynamics.
The Mistral will also be the last model to feature Bugatti’s famous W16 16-cylinder engine. Mate Rimac, CEO of Bugatti-Rimac, the company that now owns the Bugatti brand, said future Bugatti models will be hybrids. It’s unclear what kind of petrol engine these future models will have, but it won’t be the same W16 which, with various developments and improvements, has powered all modern Bugatti cars since 2005.
Air from the Mistral’s big engine is drawn in through air intakes behind each of the car’s two seats. The air intakes are made of carbon fiber and are designed to support the full weight of the car to protect the occupants in the event of a rollover. The air intakes on the side of the car are for oil coolers. Air passing through the oil coolers is exhausted through the Mistral’s X-shaped taillights.
The front of the Mistral has its own distinctive design with headlights each consisting of four light bars. The horseshoe-shaped central grille is also deeper and wider than on hardtop cars.