When Jan Schmid and his team began sketching the Bugatti Tourbillon, they weren’t just designing another hypercar — they were negotiating a century-long legacy. For Bugatti’s Chief Exterior Designer, the question was deceptively simple: how do you honor 115 years of unmatched artistry while driving the brand into a new age?

“The answer,” Schmid says, “was finding that sweet spot of what a Bugatti is and what a Bugatti can be in the future.”

Designing the Next Icon

The Tourbillon is the first car of Bugatti’s “New Era” — and it wears that responsibility in every millimeter of carbon and aluminum. Its form is both reverent and radical, carrying forward the brand’s unmistakable design DNA while reinterpreting it for a generation that expects digital precision and electric assistance in its 16-cylinder symphonies.

From the front, the Tourbillon is pure motion. The iconic horseshoe grille sits lower and wider than ever before, anchoring a face that seems to inhale the road ahead. Even details as mundane as the EU license plate have been meticulously considered; its placement within the horseshoe’s curve preserves aerodynamic purity and visual harmony.

“It’s really about making a Bugatti recognizable as a Bugatti from every angle,” Schmid explains. And it is.

A Symphony of Lines

Follow the car’s centerline and you trace a century of history. It runs uninterrupted from the nose to the tail, a modern echo of the riveted spine that crowned the legendary Type 57 SC Atlantic. On the Tourbillon, it terminates at the third brake light — an elegant fusion of art and function.

The famous Bugatti Line, sweeping from the A-pillar around the greenhouse before arcing forward, defines the Tourbillon’s profile. It gives the impression of a creature leaping into motion, a visual rhythm that divides the car’s two-tone paint scheme — a hallmark that dates back to Ettore Bugatti’s earliest works.

From the side, the Tourbillon’s silhouette is muscular yet impossibly fluid. A pronounced “Coke-bottle” taper pulls the flanks inward before exploding outward over the rear haunches, giving the car an athletic stance that balances lightness and power.

Engineering as Sculpture

Look closer, and the artistry reveals engineering brilliance. Despite sharing roughly the same footprint as the Chiron, the Tourbillon packs more luggage room, a front electric axle, and a maze of aerodynamic channels — all while sitting lower to the ground.

The headlights are small masterpieces in themselves. Mounted to the so-called “flying fenders,” they don’t merely illuminate; they breathe. Each fender channels air from beneath and over the top, feeding radiators and sculpting airflow with almost biological grace. The crisp front fender line stretches rearward, intersecting with the deep side intake in one continuous gesture.

At the rear, the design resolves into mechanical poetry. The fenders flow into the decklid, beneath which sits an active rear wing that stays hidden until aerodynamics demand otherwise. Below, the exposed engine bay showcases the towering plenum of the naturally aspirated V16 — a monument to combustion in an age of quiet electrons.

A full-width light bar composed of 124 LED elements traces the car’s contour, illuminating the Bugatti script in a single sweep of light. The rear diffuser, starting just behind the seats, channels air through an intricate network of outlets, emphasizing the car’s planted, purposeful stance.

“Everything is playing hand in hand,” Schmid says. “The new package, the design — we really showcased the capabilities of what the Tourbillon can do.”

The Designer’s Favorite View

Ask Schmid to pick his favorite part, and his answer comes without hesitation.
“The rear fender,” he says, smiling. “It’s inspired by the Veyron’s proportions — that vast, reflection-rich surface. It gives the car strength and muscle, enhancing its stance and its proportion.”

Form Follows Emotion

In the Tourbillon, Bugatti has done more than sculpt another hypercar; it has sculpted its own future. Every curve and crease speaks to a philosophy that sees beauty not as an afterthought of performance, but as its twin.

More than a century after Ettore Bugatti first blended art and speed, the brand still believes in harmony — between power and grace, heritage and innovation, past and possibility.

And in that harmony, the Tourbillon finds its name — a mechanism born from the world of fine watchmaking, designed to counter time itself.

In other words, Bugatti hasn’t just built a car. It’s built a reminder that true beauty never stands still.

Source: Bugatti

Bugatti doesn’t do half-measures. When the French marque revealed the Tourbillon hypercar, it wasn’t just the start of a new performance era—it was a signal that everything wearing the Bugatti badge is expected to embody the same blend of power, elegance, and audacity. That ethos now extends beyond W16 successors and quad-turbo theatrics into something smaller, lighter, and meant for your face: Bugatti Eyewear’s boldest collection yet.

The timing is no accident. With the Tourbillon headlining Bugatti’s latest automotive chapter, its eyewear arm—developed with longtime partner OBI—is seizing the moment to redefine its own design language. The brand chose Paris, naturally, as the stage. Ahead of a full public reveal at SILMO 2025, the world’s biggest eyewear showcase, a private preview unfolded at Luxury Living Paris, flanked by pieces from the Bugatti Home Collection. Subtle? No. On brand? Entirely.

A Tourbillon for the Eyes

At the heart of the new collection is the Tourbillon Limited Edition frame, a 3D-printed titanium sculpture that looks less like something you’d perch on your nose and more like it belongs on a concours lawn. Its flowing, aerodynamic lines echo the rear design of the hypercar itself, while the choice of titanium delivers strength, flexibility, and that oh-so-necessary dose of aerospace chic.

Bugatti being Bugatti, rarity is baked in. Just 100 pairs will be produced worldwide, each housed in a custom carbon-fiber collector’s box and accompanied by a 3D-printed polyamide case modeled after the Tourbillon’s suspension geometry. This isn’t just eyewear; it’s optical jewelry for the same clientele that casually cross-shops Veyrons and private jets.

Mate Rimac, CEO of Bugatti Rimac, frames it bluntly: “In every facet of its design, the Tourbillon embodies uncompromising precision and daring creativity. Infused with that same spirit, the Tourbillon Limited Edition frame is a natural choice for discerning customers.” Translation: if you’ve got one of the cars on order, you’ll probably want the sunglasses too.

Beyond the Halo Piece

But the collection doesn’t stop with one showpiece. The Model 36 debuts Bugatti’s first rimless design—featherweight, minimalist, and aimed at the executive who likes their luxury subtle. The Model 100, meanwhile, goes the other way: a bold navigator silhouette blending carbon fiber and horn, finished with EB-engraved hinges and accents plated in silver, white gold, or 24-karat gold.

And then there’s the Precious Collection, which makes no apologies for being extreme. Frames are set with certified VVS1 diamonds and rare gemstones, lenses are custom-faceted, and every flourish is handmade by master artisans in Antwerp. It’s eyewear as haute joaillerie—pieces designed less for vision correction than for Instagram correction.

Long-Term Vision

This eyewear reset is guided by Sascha Koettig, CEO of OBI, alongside creative director Kellie Hautala, both of whom speak of building “a new design foundation” and “a strong identity” for the future. Bugatti clearly agrees: its eyewear partnership with OBI has been extended through 2030, ensuring that the marque’s glasses evolve alongside its hypercars.

Wiebke Ståhl, managing director of Bugatti International, sums it up as “quiet luxury and refined sophistication,” though anyone who’s seen a diamond-studded frame plated in 24-karat gold may take the “quiet” part with a grain of salt.

The Big Picture

If this all sounds extravagant, that’s because it is. Bugatti is one of the few brands left that still trades unapologetically in excess. For buyers, a pair of diamond-set Bugatti glasses is less about blocking the sun and more about projecting the same aura as the $4-million hypercar parked outside the villa.

Will the Tourbillon hypercar matter more in 50 years than a titanium sunglasses frame? Absolutely. But as Bugatti tells it, both belong to the same lineage—rolling (and wearable) statements of craftsmanship, rarity, and the pursuit of beauty.

At SILMO 2025 in Paris, that message will be on full display: Bugatti doesn’t just build cars. It builds icons—and now, apparently, eyewear to match.

Source: Bugatti