Porsche has just increased its stake in Croatian hypercar manufacturer Rimac Automobili, up from 10% to 15.5%. As Porsche ventures deeper into the world of electric mobility, the newly-strengthened partnership will see it call on Rimac’s expertise in electrification technology, which includes powertrains, batteries, and other components related to electrification and autonomous driving.
When the two companies formalised their partnership in June last year, Rimac effectively became the component and system supplier of choice. Porsche’s deputy chairman and chief financial officer, Lutz Meschke said: “Porsche has accompanied Rimac in its positive development for a year. It quickly became clear to us that Porsche and Rimac could learn a lot from each other. We are convinced of Mate Rimac and his company, so now we have increased our stake and are expanding our cooperation in battery technology.”
Rimac founder and CEO Mate Rimac said: “It was one of the most important milestones in our history to win Porsche as a partner. The fact that Porsche is now increasing its stake is the best confirmation of our cooperation and the basis for an even closer relationship.
“We are just at the beginning of our partnership – and yet our high expectations have already been met. We have many ideas that we want to action together in the future. The key is to create a win-win situation for both partners and to add value to our end customers by developing exciting electrified models,” he said.
Mate grew up loving engineering and testing the limits of what’s possible, and these values are said to be the core of the company’s business today. Rimac Automobili currently has over 600 employees (it was 400 last June), and has partners from a handful of high-performance car brands, with Hyundai being the latest addition to the portfolio.
Rimac’s latest model, the Rimac C_Two is billed as the most technologically-advanced hypercar ever built, boasting 1,914 hp and 2,300 Nm of torque. Everything from the car and most of its major components are designed, engineered and manufactured in-house. Porsche’s investment will help contribute to the company’s development, which includes the significant scaling-up of its high-performance component production.
This in turn will enable the business to support a greater range and volume of partners with production ranging from advanced powertrains and drivetrains, to industry-leading infotainment and connectivity systems. Rimac is currently finalising development of the C_Two ahead of its debut later this month, with customer deliveries scheduled to begin in 2020.
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Means Rimac is much more advanced
Means Porsche needs somebody to design their door knobs