Somewhere in the world, there’s a Bugatti collector with very specific taste. Four hypercars, all themed around insects, all commissioned through the brand’s Sur Mesure customization arm in Molsheim. The latest addition to this very particular menagerie is the W16 Mistral “Fly Bug,” and it’s exactly as wild as it sounds.
A Whole Bug Collection
The “Fly Bug” doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It joins a Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse “Hellbug,” a Chiron “Hellbee,” and a Divo “Lady Bug” already sitting in the same garage, the last of which featured roughly 1,600 hand-arranged geometric shapes flowing across its body. We don’t know who this collector is, but we’d love to see the rest of the garage.
For this fourth build-out, the collector kept the insect theme going strong, this time focusing on dragonflies. Specifically, the way their wings catch the light when they’re hovering over a pond, and Bugatti really knocked it out of the park here.
Dragonfly Blue is Doing the Heavy Lifting
The custom paint, fittingly named Dragonfly Blue, shifts between blue and turquoise depending on how the light hits it. Bugatti even color-matched the wheels to the body, which is quite a tall order considering wheels and body panels are made from completely different materials and require completely different paint systems.
Now, the real showpiece is the ellipse pattern that scatters across the flanks like a halftone print, growing denser toward the rear before dissolving into the air intakes. Look closer and you’ll spot the Bugatti Macaron, the brand’s iconic oval emblem, woven directly into the graphic on the driver’s side. According to Bugatti, that was the most demanding part of the entire build.
An Interior That Took Months
Inside, the dragonfly theme keeps going strong. Bugatti even developed a new layered material specifically for this car. It’s a leather over Alcantara set in a geometric pattern, and finished off with a technique that gives the interior a 3D-like quality. The ellipse motif carries all the way to the door panels, which marks the first time the brand has run a graphic across both the panel face and the armrest in a single application.
The gear selector houses the famous Dancing Elephant sculpture, a nod to Rembrandt Bugatti’s animal sculptures. It’s a fitting Easter egg given the collector’s whole nature-inspired theme.
Same W16, Same Top Speed, Same Insanity
Mechanically, the “Fly Bug” is still a Mistral. That means the 8.0-liter quad-turbocharged W16 sending 1,578 horsepower through a seven-speed dual-clutch and all-wheel drive. Top speed sits at 282 mph, which held the open-top road car record at launch. Zero to 62 mph happens in 2.4 seconds.
This is the swan song for the W16 platform, with the upcoming Tourbillon and its hybrid V16 taking over as Bugatti’s next chapter. So consider the “Fly Bug” a high note for one of the most absurd engines ever put into production.
Spec Sheet
Model: Bugatti W16 Mistral “Fly Bug”
Year: 2026
Engine: 8.0L Quad-Turbocharged W16
Power: 1,578 HP
Transmission: 7-Speed Dual-Clutch
Drivetrain: All-Wheel Drive
0-62 MPH: 2.4 seconds
Top Speed: 282 MPH
Exterior Paint: Bespoke Dragonfly Blue
Production: One-of-One (Sur Mesure)
Pricing & Availability
The standard W16 Mistral starts around €5 million (~$5.8 million) before any customization, and all 99 production slots have long been spoken for. Bugatti hasn’t disclosed the final cost of the “Fly Bug” build, but Sur Mesure commissions of this complexity typically push well past the base figure.
Recap
2026 Bugatti W16 Mistral “Fly Bug”
Bugatti’s Sur Mesure team built a one-off Mistral inspired by the iridescent wings of a dragonfly, complete with a bespoke color-shifting paint and an ellipse pattern that took months to execute. It’s the fourth insect-themed hypercar in the same collector’s garage.
