Advertisement

Porsche now owns almost a quarter of EV car maker Rimac

Rimac is helping Porsche and other automakers build out their EV stables.

Steve Dent / Engadget

Porsche has invested an additional €70 million ($83.3 million) in Rimac, boosting its stake in the hypercar manufacturer and EV component supplier from 15 to 24 percent, Rimac has announced. Porsche joins Hyundai as a major investor in Rimac, after the Korean automaker recently put in €80 million ($95 million).

Why all the interest in Rimac, ostensibly a niche manufacturer of luxury electric supercars? As Porsche notes, the Croatian company is also a major manufacturer of high-performance EV parts, including batteries and drivetrains. "Porsche has already placed its first orders with Rimac for the development of highly innovative series components," said Porsche deputy chairman Lutz Meschke in a statement.

In an interview last year, CEO Mate Rimac said that his company was also working with Hyundai, Aston Martin, Koenigsegg, Renault and Pininfarina. He noted that Porsche asked his company to work on an (unnamed) car in development at the time, challenging Rimac to "make it better" in three months. "We managed to surprise them with the timing and performance of what we did," he said. In the same interview, he added that Rimac was building "the battery and powertrain" for a performance-oriented Hyundai EV.

Porsche first invested in Rimac back in 2018 when it acquired a 10 percent stake. The company has said that it's interested in Rimac's focus on performance, particularly for prototypes and limited series cars. "Rimac is well on its way to becoming a Tier 1 supplier for Porsche and other manufacturers in the high-tech segment," said Meschke. The company has certainly proved that with its own EVs like the Rimac Concept 2, a 1,900 horsepower electric hypercar that can hit 250 MPH and go from 0-60 in around 1.8 seconds.