Bugatti's speedy hybrid has $4 million-plus price tag

Paris: Supercar maker Bugatti on Thursday showed off its first hybrid car with a top speed of about 445 kilometres (275 miles) an hour and a price tag of more than $4 million.

The company said the 1,800-horsepower Tourbillon car is now in its "testing phase" and that deliveries of the 250 planned cars would start in 2026.

The car, with its carbon body and 3D-printed parts, has three electric motors and one newly designed 1,000-horsepower fuel engine.

The electric battery only has an autonomy of 60 kilometres, however, said the company which is owned by Porsche and Croatian company Rimac.

When Rimac, a maker of electric sports cars, took a major stake in Bugatti in 2021, observers had predicted that the luxury carmaker would soon have an electric model.

But the owner, Mate Rimac, said in May that the super-rich who are Bugatti's main clients were turning against electric supercars.

Also going against the grain of the rest of the car industry, the Tourbillon has only a small screen for digital indicators.

The speedometer, rev counter and other indicators are placed just behind the steering wheel in a system in "titanium, sapphire and rubies" that was designed and made by Swiss watchmakers.

Made at a factory in Molsheim in eastern France, the Tourbillon has a "starting price" of 3.8 million euros ($4.1 million), the company said.