For electric cars, it’s not just China. BMW looks to Croatian Rimac (and Berlin attacks the EU)
The list of manufacturers getting on board the Croatian electric hypercar brand is growing: after Porsche and Mercedes, another German company, BMW, is betting on Rimac, one of the few startups in the sector not only not to fail, but to run faster and faster
In the same days in which, without mincing words, the hawk Christian Lindner, Finance Minister and member of the German Liberal-Democratic Party at the microphones of the Augsburger Allgemeine strikes in the direction of Brussels regarding the ban on internal combustion engines which for Berlin should instead reserve important exemptions on bio-fuels ("It is the market that should decide what is feasible and what consumers want, not politics and bureaucrats", said government representative Scholz, completely ignoring the environmental issue) , BMW announces the partnership with Rimac Technology for the development of batteries for electric cars.
The news lies in the fact that, for once, the German automotive industry is not looking to China but to its neighbors for the electric car. Rimac Technology is in fact a company of the Croatian group of the same name. The parties' intention is to start a "long-term partnership" for the development of "innovative solutions in the field of high-voltage battery technology for some electric vehicles".
WHO DRIVES THE CROATIAN ELECTRIC BAR
Set up by 36-year-old Mate Rimac , a Bosnian entrepreneur and designer with Croatian citizenship, it appears to be one of the few automotive startups capable not only of holding its ground in a period that has exclusively reserved failures , but even of growing rapidly having invested 200 million dollars only in the “Rimac Campus” which, in addition to acting as the headquarters, is a 200,000 m² R&D hub. In short, rather than resembling the classic structures in which traditional brands are based, the Bosnian entrepreneur who loves high speed has aimed for something that resembles the HQs of Silicon Valley. Except that it is located on the outskirts of Zagreb.
NOT JUST BMW, ALL RIMAC PARTNERS
BMW is not the first German company with which Rimac does business, having established a joint venture with Bugatti through Porsche , of the Volkswagen Group (in the midst of the pandemic, the Zuffenhausen company has in fact invested 70 million euros to subscribe to a capital increase of Croatian company, thus rising from 15% to 24%) and a partnership also with Mercedes.
Zooming in, it has also signed agreements with AMG, Aston Martin, Cupra, Ferrari, Jaguar, Koenigsegg, Magna, Pininfarina and Renault. Despite the rumors, the 80 million one with the Korean Hyundai and Kia still seems to be standing.
WHO BOARDED RIMAC?
Two years ago, Milanese entrepreneur Andrea Bonomi 's Investindustrial invested 120 million euros and more or less in the same period the Croatian company completed a 500 million euro fundraising. The operation, concluded on the basis of a valuation of the entire Rimac of 2 billion, saw the participation of the Japanese Softbank (through the Vision Fund 2), and the US bank Goldman Sachs. On that occasion Porsche said it had invested an "eight-figure sum" in Rimac to always remain at 20% of the capital.
Following in the footsteps of the American Tesla, Rimac has invested part of that capital in the design and production of stationary energy storage systems, i.e. large batteries for industrial applications or for the storage of electricity produced from renewable sources.
RIMAC ARRIVES IN ITALY?
Determined to become a supplier of technology, not just a brand of electric hypercars, Rimac announced a few months ago its intention to produce 100,000 batteries a year between 2024 and 2026. There was even talk of its landing in Italy , in the Italian Motor Valley. But no concrete facts were seen following the indiscretion.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/per-lauto-elettrica-non-ce-solo-la-cina-bmw-guarda-alla-croata-rimac-e-berlino-attacca-lue/ on Thu, 11 Apr 2024 10:18:08 +0000.