The alloy-block W16 engine in the Bugatti EB 16-4 Veyron is innovative and totally unique. Two exceptionally narrow V8 cylinder blocks using the VR principle are combined at an included angle of 90 degrees. The resulting 16-cylinder engine can develop a mighty 736 kilowatts (1,001 brake horsepower) at 6,000 revolutions per minute. The W16 is installed as a mid-engine ahead of the rear axle, and measures only 710 millimetres in length and 767 millimeters in width. Four turbochargers help to give this 7,993-cc engine a peak torque never before available in a passenger car: 1,250 newton-meters (922 lb/ft of torque). The temperature of the charge air is reduced by passing it through two water-cooled charge-air intercoolers located above the cylinder heads. No fewer than 64 valves admit the mixture to the cylinders and expel the exhaust gas; they are operated by roller cam followers from four chain-driven overhead camshafts with continuously variable valve timing.

Had it not been developed specifically for the Bugatti EB 16-4 Veyron, the new seven-speed gearbox could well have come directly from the pen of a top Formula One racing car designer. Gear shifts take place sequentially at paddles behind the steering wheel, and there is no clutch pedal. The double clutch transmission (DCT) shifts from one gear to the next in a maximum of 0.2 of a second. Power from the engine reaches the wheels through a permanent all-wheel drive system.