Bugatti Splits from VW and Joins Forces with Rimac
Bugatti, a name that is synonymous with hypercars, has been sold off to Croatian carmaker, Rimac. However, in this new partnership, there will a 45-55 ownership share with Porsche, which is also owned by the Volkswagen Group. The new joint venture company will be called Bugatti Rimac and led by 32-year-old Mate Rimac, the founder of the company.
The Rimac Group itself is owned by Porsche (24%), Hyundai (12%), Mate Rimac (37%) and other investors (27%). With this, we can say that Rimac is under the Volkswagen umbrella as the German automaker embarks on a US$41billion (approximately RM172 billion) electric push.
“Rimac and Bugatti are a perfect match in terms of what we each bring to the table. As a young, agile and fast-paced automotive and technology company, we have established ourselves as an industry pioneer in electric technologies,” Rimac said. He added that the hypercar business “should be self-sustaining and profitable on its own”.
Rimac builds its own electrified supercars, drivetrain and battery systems and is a key supplier to automotive powerhouses such as Porsche, Aston Martin and Jaguar, to name a few. Being spearheaded by an electric specialist, we will have to see how this partnership works out as Bugatti is known for their insanely powerful 16-cylinder engines and craftmanship. However, with the advent of battery technology, these fully electrified hypercars are posting up speed times that the ICE powertrain finds difficult to match (but we still love their sweet engine roar). The upcoming Rimac Nevera is touted to being the fastest model ever built, a title held by, yes, you’ve guessed it – Bugatti.
Both Bugatti and Rimac will continue to build their brands. The venture will directly employ 430 people when it all kicks off at the end of 2021, 300 will be at the new Bugatti Rimac headquarters in Zagreb (on the recently-announced €200m Rimac Campus) and 130 at the Bugatti HQ in Molsheim, France.
Exciting times indeed.
