- Mate Rimac isn’t afraid of potential penalties that might come with combustion-car production in the future.
- His comments indicate that the brand will keep making ICE cars through 2035.
- He also believes that the brand could end up building fuel stations at customer homes.
The Chiron’s replacement is coming and Bugatti’s CEO Mate Rimac is understandably excited. He recently attended the FT Future of the Car Summit in London and dropped a few more details about the upcoming hypercar and the future of Bugatti. The company boss said there’s no plan to discontinue ICE cars even if it means paying penalties, and they could go as far as to build gas stations at customer homes if they have to.
The comments come in response to questions about proposed bans on ICE car production after 2035. To Rimac, who recently unveiled Bugatti‘s new naturally aspirated V16 engine, that ‘ban’ is no big deal.
Read: Bugatti’s Latest Special Edition Is Fully Electric And Has A Mere 13 HP
“I don’t see any reason not to make them beyond 2035, we have developed a completely new engine and we want to use that engine for a while,” he said at the recent FT Future of the Car Summit in London, according to AutoExpress. “I read the regulations and I don’t see a reason why it would be impossible – the headlines say combustion-engined cars will be banned from 2035, but you read the fine print and it doesn’t say that anywhere – you can still build them, but there might be some penalties.”
Automotive executives are somewhat notorious for dancing around certain topics. That’s even more true when it comes to future predictions (unless that executive is Elon Musk). So the fact that Rimac is bold enough to come right out and say the quiet part, “there might be some penalties,” says a lot. Clearly, the team at Bugatti believes in combustion engines and the power wielded by the market and its customers.
He even has a solution for a time when gas stations might begin to dwindle. “You could even make some beautiful Bugatti fuel stations for the homes of owners, using synthetic fuels,” he says. That kinda makes a lot more sense than it might initially sound like. EV owners can already charge up at home. In addition to that, services are already available that will come to your house and fill your vehicle up with gas. This sounds more like a logical step than a far-fetched dream.
Rimac also commented on how the replacement for the Chiron will stand out. It’s a new era for Bugatti and that includes in terms of enhanced quality. This new car shares no parts with the outgoing car or the Rimac Nevera. To explain his thinking, he compared it to a watch.
“Even if some watches don’t have a transparent cover on the back, you know when you take them apart, that everything’s beautiful because people care about it. People make it clear that it’s done with precision and quality even if you don’t see it. That’s what I wanted to do with the new Bugatti; everything to do with it – every little piece, even if you don’t see it – is at the absolute highest level,” he said.
That sure makes it sound as though the reportedly leaked image of the gauge cluster was real. Either way, we’ll see the real car in the flesh next month. Here’s to hoping it’s as groundbreaking as the company boss says it is.