Bugatti boss: Gas in the owner's house, maybe stick to the fuel station
Bugatti Rimac CEO Mate Rimac may have made his name with an electric supercar produced by his eponymous company, but he believes Bugatti should stick to the internal combustion engine.
At the recent Financial Times Future of The Car conference in London, Rimac said Bugatti would maintain combustion engines in the long term, suggesting that automakers could even build fuel stations in their owners' homes to maintain supply, Auto Express reported.
The next Bugatti Hypercar to replace Chiron will be announced on 6/20 and will feature a hybrid powertrain built around the new V-16 engine. Bugatti wants to make the most of its investment in its engine, Rimac said in an interview.
"I see no reason not to make them beyond 2035," Remac said. "We have developed an entirely new engine, but we want to use that engine for a while."
He is not worried about future European emissions regulations that are expected to make it more difficult for manufacturers to develop gasoline vehicles.
"I read the regulations and did not see why it would be impossible — the headlines say that combustion-engine cars will be banned from 2035, but you read the fine print and it does not say it everywhere - you can still build them, but there may be some penalties" He said.
At the same meeting, Rimac also said that electric vehicles are starting to lose their cool factor as the government tries to mandate technology, which, in particular Haier, said that the future of the Rimac brand is in breakthrough technology and that future cars do not necessarily have to be EVs.