Rimac’s takeover of Bugatti in July 2021 is said to be making more money than anyone anticipated. The joint venture will move towards electrification. Rimac CEO Mate Rimac said, “It’s highly profitable and cash flow positive beyond anybody’s expectations. It’s such a win-win situation for everybody.”
It is known that Rimac owns 55 percent of Bugatti, with the other 45 percent owned by Porsche. Additionally, Porsche itself owns 24 percent of Rimac. Rimac says it’s developed a “really close strategic relationship” with the German sports car maker. “We are really collaborating on many levels, developing and producing lots of key elements of [Porsche’s] future hybridization and electrification,” he told.
The Croatian CEO added that Rimac should focus on developing a stable business with sustained profitability before it can go public like Ferrari and Porsche. “Ferrari makes projections and they always achieve,” Rimac said. “What I want to have is some kind of stability and certainty before we do an IPO because we don’t want to make promises we can’t keep.” An IPO can happen from three to 10 years from now, Rimac tells Reuters, because “we obviously have financial investors that at some point want to exit.”
Significant changes
Profitability is a significant challenge for hypercar manufacturers. After all, they spend extortionate amounts of time and money developing a vehicle only to sell it in incredibly low volumes. For example, the Bugatti Veyron was infamously one of the biggest loss-making cars ever made despite its $1 million+ starting price.
However, Rimac Automobili is slightly different. It’s not just a hypercar builder, but also a successful battery and drivetrain supplier. The firm has attracted plenty of investment, with Porsche taking up a 24% stake (Porsche also owns 45% of Bugatti Rimac). Furthermore, Rimac raised over $500 million in Series D funding earlier this year. When questioned on future plans, Mate Rimac highlighted Ferrari as a good example of a hyper/supercar firm that’s stable and predictable. He believes Rimac Bugatti must become more like the Italian brand, at least in terms of profitability and stability, before it can consider an IPO.
Deliveries of Rimac’s second production model, the Nevera, commenced in August with the first example being delivered to former F1 World Champion Nico Rosberg. The Nevera is the world’s fastest EV with a 257 mph top speed and 1.85 second 0-60 mph time. The electric hypercar starts at roughly $2.4 million. There are a lot of synergies, and it appears that a lot more is expected from the joint venture.
