Before being fitted into the first Bugatti Chiron in 2016, the automaker placed the powerful 8.0-liter W16 engine in the 2005 Bugatti Veyron 16.4. That original W16 produced 1,001 PS (987 horsepower), capable of propelling the Veyron 16.4 from zero to 100 kph (62 mph) in 2.5 seconds and a 400 kph (249 mph) top speed. In a 2022 press release, Bugatti proclaimed the W16-powered Veyron as "the world's first hyper sports car."

The impetus behind the unusual design of the Bugatti W16 engine came in 1997 when Ferdinand Karl Piëch, as Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG, sketched an 18-cylinder W engine design on an envelope while traveling by train from Tokyo to Osaka. The design eventually lost two cylinders during development, similar to a 16-cylinder engine envisioned by Ettore Bugatti years earlier.

Among the W16 engine design's benefits are its compact size and relatively light weight, The Bugatti W16 occupies about the same space as a V12 and weighs around 400 kg (882 pounds). The W16's incredible engine design is often described as two V8s joined together with their cylinders next to each other, but slightly offset. All 16 pistons share the same crankshaft, and each bank of eight cylinders uses one cylinder head with four-valves per cylinder.