08:02 26-12-2025

Inside the Bugatti Tourbillon: mechanical gauges, minimal screens

Bugatti is using the Tourbillon to reset expectations of what a modern hypercar should feel like from the inside. Instead of a wall of touchscreens, the brand leans into analog hardware, mechanical tactility, and lasting design, so the cabin doesn’t date itself in a few years as interfaces and tablet fashions shift.

The guiding idea is a kind of digital detox. There’s very little screen time in the cockpit: the central display hides in the dash and stays out of sight by default, rising only when the driver truly needs it. The rest of the essential functions sit on physical controls with carefully tuned effort and a crisp click, encouraging you to operate the car with your hands rather than through layers of menus.

The clearest showcase of that philosophy is the instrument cluster. Bugatti enlisted Swiss watchmakers to craft a fully mechanical set of gauges in milled aluminum with skeletonized elements and transparent covers that reveal parts of the mechanism. The intent is to evoke the presence of a wrist-worn tourbillon more than a generic speed readout on a screen—and it comes across that way.

The steering wheel is built around those instruments. Its hub is fixed, so the central section with the airbag and hub hardware stays still while only the rim turns. That means the driver always views the gauges through the wheel in the same orientation, with no scales wandering out of sight. Modern functionality remains intact: switches and shift paddles are integrated into the rotating outer ring.

The cabin layout preserves Bugatti’s signature C-line. The motif you notice outside continues inside to visually separate the driver’s and passenger’s zones, reinforced by a horizontal split in color. Materials follow an auto-couture direction: a blend of leather and fresh, tailor-like textiles, so the interior feels crafted like high fashion rather than the usual carbon-and-Alcantara recipe.

The designers also underline the practical side. Everything is packaged around real-world requirements—airbag placement, belt anchor points, and how the structure behaves in a crash. The Tourbillon’s message is simple and ambitious: you’re not in a smartphone on wheels, but in a piece of mechanical art meant to look right decades from now, even as the brand’s powertrains and software move into a new era.