French hypercar manufacturer Bugatti Automobiles and Rimac Automobili of Croatia have announced that they will join forces to create a new company that will oversee the development of future products from both brands. This new entity will be called Bugatti Rimac d.o.o. and Rimac will be a major shareholder in it.
Understanding this new venture can be a bit tricky but we will try our best to explain. The Rimac Group has investors including Porsche, Hyundai, Mate Rimac and a few others, with Mate Rimac holding the majority stake at 37 per cent. The Rimac Group will further be split into two entities – Bugatti Rimac and Rimac Technology. The Rimac Group will be the major shareholder with a 55% stake in Bugatti Rimac. This company will be tasked with developing new technologies and vehicles for both Rimac and Bugatti. Porsche started investing in Rimac back in 2018 and has since been increasing its share in the company. They also hold a 45 per cent stake in the new company and it would be interesting to see how they make use of Rimac in their own upcoming electric vehicles.
Rimac Technology will function as a separate entity and will continue to develop, produce and supply battery systems, drivetrains and other EV components to the new venture as well as to other global brands. This should not mean the end of internal combustion engine powered Bugatti cars as Bugatti and Rimac will continue to exist as separate brands. So, we can expect more gasoline-powered rockets with the Bugatti badge to hit the roads sometime in the future. Even the current production facilities and distribution channels for both brands will remain as they are.
Both Rimac Bugatti and Rimac Technology will be run by Mate Rimac who will act as the CEO and oversee operations. He commented, “This is a truly exciting moment in the short, yet rapidly expanding history of Rimac Automobili. We have gone through so much in such a short space of time, but this new venture takes things to a completely new level. Rimac and Bugatti are a perfect match in terms of what we each bring to the table.”
For the time being, Bugatti will continue to operate from Molsheim, France and Rimac from the outskirts of Zagreb, Croatia. But there are plans for the new joint venture’s global headquarters to be situated in the Rimac Campus in Croatia. This facility was announced recently and attracted an investment of €200 million. It is expected to be operational by 2023 and will act as the place where research for all future Bugatti and Rimac products will be done.
Oliver Blume, Chairman of the Executive Board at Porsche AG: “We are combining Bugatti’s strong expertise in the hypercar business with Rimac’s tremendous innovative strength in the highly promising field of electromobility. Bugatti is contributing a tradition-rich brand, iconic products, a loyal customer base and a global dealer network to the joint venture. In addition to technology, Rimac is contributing new development and organisational approaches.”
