Porsche Now Owns Nearly A Quarter Of Rimac After $83M Investment

I'm going to be the first one to admit corporate stories aren't the most exciting, but we've been keeping an eye on Porsche and Rimac as great things could stem from the tie-up. In June 2018, the peeps from Zuffenhausen took an initial stake in the Croatian electric hypercar brand by acquiring a minority shareholding of 10 percent. In September 2019, the percentage grew to 15.5 percent, and now, it’s increasing again to 24 percent.

To make it happen, Porsche is investing an additional €70 million (about $83.2M at current exchange rates) and points out owning 24 percent of the shares does not grant it a controlling influence. In other words, Rimac is still calling the shots regarding its future. Interestingly, Porsche mentions in the press release issued today the company behind the C_Two is on its way to becoming a Tier 1 supplier for the brand, meaning future models from the German marque will use EV-related hardware provided by Rimac.

There had been rumors about Porsche increasing its stake to as much as 50 percent, but it looks like that's not going to be the case, at least not now. It is unclear what will happen to Bugatti as various reports have speculated Rimac would take control of the Molsheim-based company in exchange for more shares sold to Porsche.

It's a known fact Bugatti's parent company Volkswagen Group will decide in the first half of the year, with Porsche CEO and member of the management board of parent Volkswagen AG, Oliver Blume, recently suggesting Rimac could play a role regarding Bugatti's future. Should the deal materialize, there's a big chance we'll see fully electric Bugatti hypercars utilizing Rimac's know-how that would follow electrified Porsche models taking advantage of what Mate Rimac and his team have been able to develop in a short time.

Rimac was founded in 2009 near Zagreb and is months (or weeks) away from introducing the production version of its highly promising C_Two. The quad-motor electric hypercar with over 1,900 horsepower will debut with a different name and promises to hit 60 mph in less than two seconds. The first year of production has already been sold even before the premiere, out of a total run of 150 cars.