The $5M Bugatti Mistral Was Developed in Just 9 Months Thanks to Virtual Reality

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Car manufacturers are now utilizing new digital tools to assist in the design, production, and launch of products. The Hummer EV underwent a rapid development process thanks to innovative technologies like virtual reality, while Ford is also leveraging VR to expedite vehicle design. It’s not just large automakers that recognize the value of these tools, though. Bugatti Design Director Achim Anscheidt, in an interview with The Drive, highlighted the significance of VR in creating the brand’s latest luxury car, the $5 million W16 Mistral roadster.

Having previously designed the Chiron, Anscheidt is well-versed in car design. He claims that VR revolutionizes the iterative design process of a vehicle, enabling the Mistral to be developed in just nine months.

“Our approach is heavily VR-oriented now,” Anscheidt told The Drive. “While I still appreciate clay modeling and hands-on work, the quality of our virtual reality tools today is so advanced that we are approaching the final product very closely.”

Although Anscheidt’s team still constructs physical models, ensuring proper proportions in a car now requires significantly less time and resources. By utilizing Blender, a user-friendly CAD program, the team can shape key features and themes efficiently. While these models may not be suitable for manufacturing tools, when viewed in VR, they are almost as effective as examining a physical clay model.

The design process then transitions to Alias, a more advanced CAD software compared to Blender, incorporating actual surfaces and precise measurements. The final CAD model developed here can be employed for tooling in production. Remarkably, these models remain viewable in VR, allowing for full-scale evaluation of any necessary adjustments. This streamlined process eliminates the need for clay or foam models, facilitating rapid development.

“Currently, we are saving approximately 40% of the time compared to fifteen years ago and 20% from five years ago,” Anscheidt stated.

When the development timeline of a car is measured in months, even incremental percentage savings can result in significant efficiencies. Interestingly, tools similar to those utilized by Anscheidt’s team are also accessible to the general public. Interested in visualizing a car in your driveway for fun? Augmented reality makes it feasible, although its primary utility lies in aiding major automotive manufacturers, driving down costs, risks, and development durations.

For automakers, integrating VR into their processes is now a given. The degree of adoption will soon reveal which companies are truly embracing this technology and which risk falling behind. Bugatti appears to be fully leveraging its potential.

Have feedback or a question for the author? Contact them at: peter@thedrive.com

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