Porsche and Rimac to take over Bugatti

In a recent press release, German high-performance automobile maker Porsche and Croatian EV hypercar manufacturer Rimac Automobili announced their plans to establish a new joint venture that will allow both brands to take over Bugatti.

“We are combining Bugatti's strong expertise in the hypercar business with Rimac’s tremendous innovative strength in the highly promising field of electric mobility. Bugatti is contributing a tradition-rich brand, iconic products, a loyal customer base, and a global dealer organization to the joint venture. In addition to technology, Rimac is providing new development and organizational approaches,” said Porsche AG Chairman of the Executive Board Oliver Blume.

The Volkswagen Group — Porsche’s parent company and current owner of the Bugatti brand — has transferred its shares to Porsche. Under the new joint venture, Porsche — who owns a stake in Rimac — will get a 45-percent share while Rimac Automobili will have a 55-percent share of Bugatti.

The new company will be called Bugatti-Rimac.

“This joint venture is the provisional culmination of a strategic chain of investments. We already purchased the first shares in Rimac in 2018 and have successively increased our shareholding since then. We established a close relationship with Mate and his extremely innovative team very early on. We are now benefiting from that. Thanks to its know-how, Rimac will now help us to successfully lead an emotive and important brand into the future. I am very proud and delighted that we have brought this joint venture to fruition in spite of many challenges. Today is a good day for Bugatti and Rimac, Porsche, and also for the Volkswagen Group,” commented Porsche AG Deputy Chairman and Member of the Executive Board for Finance and IT Lutz Meschke.

This complex shuffling of ownership is said to take place in the fourth quarter of 2021.

“This really is an exciting moment. Rimac Automobili has grown very quickly and the joint venture takes the company to a completely new level. Bugatti and Rimac are a perfect match for each other and both contribute important assets: we have established ourselves as an industry pioneer for electric technology, while Bugatti has more than a century of experience in the development of top-class cars and therefore brings with it an outstanding tradition that is practically unique in the history of the automotive industry. Together we will pool our knowledge, our technology, and our assets with the goal of creating very special projects in the future,” said Rimac Automobili Founder and CEO Mate Rimac.

Bugatti-Rimac will initially produce two hypercar models: the Bugatti Chiron and the all-electric Rimac Nevera. Manufacturing of the aforementioned vehicles will most likely take place at the Bugatti Automobiles SAS headquarters in Molsheim, France.

According to Bugatti, the brand will remain in this historic facility where the French automobile company was founded in 1909.

Porsche says that both Blume and Meschke will become members of Bugatti-Rimac’s Supervisory Board while Mate Rimac will be the CEO of the joint venture.

The new joint venture is scheduled to be carried out later this year and will have approximately 430 employees. Around 300 will be stationed at Bugatti-Rimac’s headquarters in Zagreb while the remaining 130 will work at Molsheim.

Photos from Bugatti and Porsche

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