The “World’s Most Beautiful Hypercar” title for 2021 has gone to the Bugatti Bolide. A panel of professional designers at the 36th Paris Festival Automobile International made the selection. They called the Bugatti the winner “by a substantial margin.” Three other cars were in the hypercar category.

What was the criteria for awarding the Bolide?

The rules were that the cars in contention “had to be produced in series but sold for more than 60,000 euros, which display a sporty design and outstanding performance.” Seems clear as mud to us. The designers were no doubt taken by how extreme the Bolide is. 

Extreme in every way. From the X-shaped LED headlights to the rear diffuser and wing, it is almost a cartoon of what a hypercar should look like. But the interplay of cutouts and ducts makes for an interesting presentation.

Bugatti Design Director Achim Anscheidt said, “It’s an honor for us that the resulting design has won such a highly coveted award, voted for by experts in our field. Praise must go to the entire design team, each dedicated to their craft in harmonizing and perfecting all aspects of the Bolide’s design during an innovative four-months, purely digital process”.

The Bolide minimizes fussy details and maximizes visibility

According to Deputy Design Director Frank Heyl, the driving force was to minimize superfluous details and instead incorporate maximum visibility. That is evident in the wraparound greenhouse that dips low at the cowl. He says that the designers kept the Bugatti identity with the design of the Bolide’s cabin.

“There is a clear Bugatti identity in the cabin of the Bolide, but one without the flourishes or luxuries of our roadgoing hyper sports cars,” he said in a press release. “The design is focused on creating a place of minimal distraction and maximum visibility, with a curving wraparound glasshouse and critical control functions that are literally at the driver’s fingertips.”

Only last month Bugatti announced it would produce the Bolide

Just last month Bugatti said it will only be making 40 Bolides, and those will all be track-only models. It won’t be seeing its first deliveries until sometime in 2024. The price, if you have to ask, will be $4.7 million. 

While few details have emerged, the concept featured an 8.0-liter W16 with 1,824 hp. That’s no typo. Of course, to get that power you’d need to feed the engine with 110-octane racing fuel. The production engine is said to be a bit tamer.

It will see 1,578 hp with 98-octane pump gas. We wonder who will be the first to coax 2,000 hp from the 16-cylinder monster motor? If the capacity to hit over 1,800 is there, what’s another 200 hp?