General
July 6, 2021
4 minutes read

EVs: Electric Supercar Maker Rimac Merges With VW’s Bugatti

In the world of supercars, there’s major news today. It’s that one of the world’s best-known legacy supercar makers is…

In the world of supercars, there’s major news today. It’s that one of the world’s best-known legacy supercar makers is merging with a startup that makes electric supercars. The legacy automaker is the popular Bugatti brand owned by Volkswagen and the startup is Rimac based in Croatia.

Rimac is combining with Bugatti to form a new company named Rimac Group. The newly formed company will have two divisions – Bugatti-Rimac, the carmaking division, and Rimac Technology, the division continuing Rimac’s business of supplying automotive systems to other upscale carmakers.

The new Rimac Group will be headed by Mate Rimac, the founder of Rimac Automobili for which the company is named. The headquarters of Rimac Group will eventually be in Croatia at a planned major manufacturing campus costing €200M ($237mn).

Before the merger, Bugatti was wholly owned by Volkswagen, which was also a shareholder in Rimac via its subsidiary company Porsche. Now handing over its Bugatti brand to Rimac, Volkswagen appears to be making a strategic play that Bugatti and Rimac as a combined company is what’s best for Bugatti’s future, especially as the German automaker transitions its brands towards electrification.

Rimac is one of the few companies making electric supercars and was founded barely a decade ago, compared to Bugatti which traces its history to the 1900s. Rimac as a separate company has unveiled a few electric supercars of its own and also has a solid business supplying automotive parts and systems to other upscale carmakers such as Bugatti (before the merger).

With the merger, Rimac Automobili’s shareholding structure will remain stable in the newly formed Rimac Group, with Mate Rimac being the biggest shareholder with a 37% stake, Volkwagen’s Porsche with 24%, Korean automaker Hyundai with 12%, and other shareholders 27%.

Before the merger, Rimac Automobili had raised over $200mn in venture funding. Its last financing round was an $83mn cash infusion this March that valued it at nearly $1bn.