Porsche continues to hedge its bets on the future of performance motoring. Not only is the German giant investing millions into synthetic fuel, it’s also increasing its stake in EV supercar maker, Rimac.
Porsche has announced it has increased its stake in the Croatian electric specialist to 24 per cent, thanks to a €70 million ($108m) investment. Previously Porsche took a 10 per cent piece of Rimac in 2018 before increasing that to 15.5 per cent in 2019.
READ MORE: Who is Rimac? EV supercar specalists explained
The news comes after months of reports Volkswagen Group was considering giving Rimac control of the famed Bugatti brand as part of the deal, but this appears to not be the case at present.
Porsche isn’t the only high-profile investor in Rimac, Hyundai-Kia Group is understood to have a 13.7 per cent stake while former F1 champion Nico Rosberg reportedly has a share.
Mate Rimac was understandably excited by Porsche’s increased investment in his company. Since 2018 the brand has almost doubled the amount of employees it has, as it not only looks to produce its C_Two model, but also provide EV drivetrains and components to the likes of Aston Martin, Koenigsegg and Pininfarina.
“Porsche has been a big supporter of our company since 2018, and it has always been a privilege to have one of the world’s most iconic sports car brands be a part of Rimac,” Mate said. “We’re proud to work together on new exciting and electrified products and of the fact that Porsche’s trust in Rimac resulted in several rounds of investment, making Porsche an important shareholder of the company.”
Porsche has recently launched its first EV models, the Taycan and Taycan Cross Turismo, but both were designed entirely in-house. While Porsche is determined to use synthetic fuel to continue powering the 911 with an internal combustion engine, it clearly has long-term plans for high-performance electric cars.
Mate made it clear that despite Porsche’s increased stake Rimac will continue to work with a variety of car manufacturers (OEMs) as part of its business plan.
“With many OEMs across the world being Rimac customers, it is important, both for Rimac and Porsche, that we remain an entirely independent business,” Rimac said. “Our projects and our shareholders are – and will always be – entirely separate, allowing us to maintain the information firewall that our partners rely on, and enabling us to continue working with many OEMs. The partnership with Porsche helps the company develop and grow which is beneficial for all of our customers.”
Stay tuned then for what should be an exciting, and very fast, electric collaboration between Rimac and Porsche in the years to come.
Discussion about this post