Electric hypercar prodigy Mate Rimac is already dreaming up robot taxis
A very determined Mate Rimac is in Brussels for the opening of the first outlet outside Croatia, in D’Ieteren. He explains his thoughts on the future car in detail.
“You’d be amazed if you knew we’ve been on the edge of the cliff many times! I remember times when I was not sure if I would be able to pay the salaries after three days…” Croatian car genius Mate Rimac was in Brussels on Thursday. He made his debut there. the company’s first dealer outside of Croatia, in D’Ieteren in Drogenbos.
Bugatti, a member of the Volkswagen (Porsche) group, decided to merge its fate with the Croatian company. This strategic decision is certainly very logical, but in 2021 it surprised many.
“Bugatti is this company created the hypercar market and showed the industry that it was possible. But Bugatti’s future was limited in the electric environment of the VW group,” explains Rimac today, offering its part.the first electric hypercar on the market”.
It’s an all-around superior car
It is the Nevera model presented at the Bugatti showroom and showroom electric car of all advantages with a carbon body, four electric motors, a central battery and a top speed of 0 to 100 km/h in two seconds. A total of 150 Neveras will be produced.
In a series of demonstrations, the car put all other cars on the market, from the Lamborghini Aventador to the top Tesla. It also includes sliding functions with four independent motors.
Mate Rimac readily admits, Since his debut in 2009, it is his passion for technology and cars rather than the environment that has driven him towards electric power. in a country without a car manufacturer. It all started in a garage converting BMWs into electric versions, and several records were at stake.
Today, the company has an annual revenue of 400 million euros and employs more than 2,000 people between its headquarters in Zagreb and the Bugatti factory in Molsheim. Rimac is finishing the construction of its campus in Croatia, and the boss knows that it will not be enough.
Also, the company manufactures everything for its Nevara, which is a small achievement in itself. “You won’t find any parts on this car that can be found on any other.”
The company survived for years, mainly by making prototypes for other manufacturers or supplying components (batteries, etc.) to some.
Today it is especially included in the Rimac group Bugatti Rimacwill produce hypercars of two prestigious brands and Rimac Technologyit’s the boss’s more Porsche, BMW, Ferrari, Hyundai, Mercedes, Renault, Pininfarina, AMG…
Porsche owns 22% of the Rimac group, while Hyundai owns 11%. Porsche also owns 45% of Bugatti Rimac.
That’s the idea transfer all the technology developed for hypercars to other cars with larger volumes. Rimac believes it is particularly advanced in terms of electric propulsion and battery energy density.
The third business: robot taxis
Friend Rimac bet on the electric car at a time when few people took it seriously. Today, the young prodigy still wants to project himself into the future. Along with Bugatti Rimac and Rimac Technology, he is hard at work on a third activity in robot taxis, P3. He won’t say much about what the tech subsidiary will offer, but Rimac’s observation is irresistible. He thinks we won’t have enough material to make all the new cars electric.
A young customer will no longer want to spend so much money on a car that he will only use 3% of the time. Rimac therefore believes that collaborative robots will be an important part of the automotive equation in the future. “A robot taxi replaces 10-15 cars,” he says. This will increase vehicle utilization up to 50% of the time while using fewer resources. “The thing that will disappear before burning cars ends is the fact that you own a car”Rimac believes.
Storage battery coming soon
When asked by Mate Rimac if he is worried that the competition will intensify in his subsidiary focused on electric car technology, he answers frankly that “at first the manufacturers did not have the slightest idea about this technology. , now they are very good. Some more than others” .
It is also “political”. A number of blue-collar workers who work on burning auto parts must be retrained to do other jobs, such as batteries. So much so that manufacturers will tend to do more and more in an electric car.
So far, Mate Rimac has worked synergistically with manufacturers. “But I wouldn’t bet the future of my company on this alone.“ It is therefore working on other applications, such as storage batteries, and should announce developments in this direction already this year.
