Porsche Buys 10 Percent Of Rimac To Help With Future Electric Vehicles

If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. Porsche, for one, seems to be embracing that idea with its most recent investment.

The German automaker has taken a ten-percent stake in Rimac – the Croatian startup known for its electric hypercars like the Concept_One and the C_Two. It just revealed the latter, nearly a decade after the former, at the Geneva Motor Show this past March, packing nearly 2,000 horsepower’s worth of electric propulsion, a 1.85-second 0-60 time, and a top speed quoted at 256 mph (412 km/h).

As impressive as Porsche’s electrified sports cars already are, those figures far eclipse what even the groundbreaking 918 Spyder was capable of. So Zuffenhausen is evidently tapping into Rimac’s expertise to help develop its next generation of electric performance machines – like the forthcoming Taycan that was previewed by the Mission E concept.

“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,” said Porsche finance and technology chief Lutz Meschke. “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.”

“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”, added Mate Rimac, founder and CEO of his namesake company (pictured below next to Porsche chief Oliver Blume). Rimac has a staff of around 400 at its headquarters near Zagreb, and also produces electric bicycles under the name Greyp Bikes.

The tie-in could ostensibly extend to other Volkswagen Group brands as well. But what we can’t help but wonder is how Porsche’s influence might shape Rimac’s involvement in projects for other automakers. The company is slated to help Automobili Pininfarina, for example, launch its own electric hypercar and a range of crossover EVs aimed squarely at Porsche.