What's the news?
Porsche has just created an interesting technical alliance with an up-and-coming sports car maker, as it has just bought a ten per cent stake in Croatian electric specialist Rimac.
Well, we say sports car maker, but really Rimac's cars so far (and only a tiny number have been built) are supercars, with Bugatti-like performance from their electric powertrains. While Rimac does build its own cars, and has plans for a fully-autonomous electric supercar, it crucially also makes its own ultra-high performance batteries, and this is likely what has spurred Porsche to invest.
"By developing the purely electric two-seaters super sports cars, like the 'Concept One' or 'C Two', as well as core vehicle systems, Rimac has impressively demonstrated its credentials in the field of electromobility", says Lutz Meschke, deputy chairman of the executive board and member of the executive board for finance and IT at Porsche. "We feel that Rimac's ideas and approaches are extremely promising, which is why we hope to enter into close collaboration with the company in the form of a development partnership."
It fits with Rimac's plans to be a car industry supplier, rather that just a maker of cars in its own right, and it potentially gives Porsche access to some very high-tech components for its upcoming electric sports car, which we now know will be called the Taycan (nothing to do with Liam Neeson...). Rimac has so far been primarily famous for providing the car that almost killed The Grand Tour presenter Richard Hammond when the Concept One he was driving crashed at a hillclimb event in Switzerland, subsequently bursting into flames thanks to damage to the car's batteries.
"This partnership now is an important step for Rimac on our way to become a component and system supplier of choice for the industry in electrification, connectivity and the exciting field of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems", said Rimac's chief executive Mate Rimac.
Rimac recently presented the latest version of its electric hypercar, the 'C Two' at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2018. The two-seater produces around 2,000hp (!) and reaches a top speed of 412km/h (and, again, !). It has a range of 650 kilometres (that's on the old NEDC cycle, though), and achieves an 80 per cent battery charge in 30 minutes through a 250kW fast charging system (of which there are, basically, none).