- At Monterey, Mate Rimac said Bugatti could include a “real manual” V16.
- He gave no commitment or timeline; a manual V16 could be series, one-off, or built via Bugatti’s Solitaire program.
- Bugatti’s Tourbillon remains a V16 hybrid with an eight-speed dual-clutch.
Manual gearboxes are edging back into the hypercar conversation, and now Bugatti CEO Mate Rimac just poured fuel on the fire. At Monterey Car Week, he did more than nod politely to three-pedal fans, inviting people to “imagine a V16 with a manual, real manual” tied directly to Bugatti’s next engine era.
That single line has already spun into “manual Bugatti confirmed” headlines, even though Rimac never announced a specific model or program. If you care about stick-shift supercars, the key is separating what he actually committed to from what is still wishful thinking, so you do not mistake a CEO’s enthusiasm for a signed-off production plan.
What Rimac Actually Said
Mate Rimac used his Monterey Car Week appearance to state clearly that he sees room in Bugatti’s future for a manual transmission. Asked about the idea, he answered with an emphatic “Yes, definitely” before telling Road & Track to imagine a V16 with a manual, stressing it would be a “real manual” rather than a software gimmick bolted onto an automatic gearbox.
That “real manual” phrase matters because it contrasts directly with Ferrari’s approach on the 12Cilindri Manuale, which keeps an automatic transmission underneath and layers simulated gates and clutch behavior over the top. Instead, Rimac’s language points to a traditional clutch pedal and mechanical shifter if Bugatti ever does it, even though he stopped short of promising a project or laying out a timeline.
Rimac did not say whether such a car would be a series-production V16, a one-off, or something built under Bugatti’s Solitaire program, which already handles ultra-exclusive commissions. Destrier, a one-off W16 hypercar based on the Bolide, shows the kind of canvas Solitaire offers, but it still uses a paddle-shifted dual-clutch gearbox, underscoring how hypothetical a manual V16 remains right now.
Tourbillon Stays Dual-Clutch While Manuals Creep Back In
Rimac’s comment does not change anything about the Bugatti Tourbillon that has already been shown with a naturally aspirated V16 hybrid powertrain and an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission. The car he has been presenting in Carmel and Monterey is still a paddle-shift V16 hybrid, not a secret manual variant, and Bugatti has given no sign that the production spec will add a clutch pedal later.
Where a stick-shift could realistically land is in a tiny-volume special using the V16 architecture, mirroring how Destrier caps off the W16 era as a one-off within the Solitaire line. Hypercar fans already saw that pattern with Bugatti’s last W16 hypercar, and Monterey this year also brought proof that other brands think niche manuals still matter, from Ferrari’s simulated system to McLaren previewing a project for a manual supercar.
If a future customer asks Bugatti for a V16 with three pedals, Rimac has now gone on record saying he is one hundred percent on board, which is a big shift from years of paddle-only setups in this bracket. For now, though, every real Bugatti you can buy or order remains an automatic or dual-clutch car, so the V16 manual lives purely in Rimac’s imagination and in enthusiasts’ wish lists. That keeps it in the same speculative bucket as other rumored stick-shift exotics, including projects like a new Italian V8 supercar with a manual and Ferrari’s own 12Cilindri Manuale experiment.
Motor1’s Take: Rimac’s openness shifts the conversation more than it locks in a car. What he offered is plausibility, not a production promise, and that matters most to wealthy collectors and clients who can commission one-off halo cars; it keeps the possibility of a true three-pedal Bugatti alive as a bespoke statement rather than a future showroom staple.
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