Porsche buys stake in Croatia’s Rimac for battery-powered cars

Bloomberg

Porsche bought a 10 percent stake in Rimac Automobili, a Croatian maker of electric supercars and components, as the German sports car brand looks to accelerate its shift into battery-powered vehicles.
“Rimac has impressively demonstrated its credentials in the field of electromobility,” Lutz Meschke, finance chief for the unit of Volkswagen AG, said in a statement. “We feel that Rimac’s ideas and approaches are extremely promising, which is why we hope to enter into close collaboration with the company.”
The investment is indication that Porsche’s electric car plans extend beyond the Taycan. The Stuttgart-based maker of the 911 sports will start production of its first all-electric model — based on the Mission E concept car — next year. The car is currently being tested, meaning the partnership with Rimac will involve future models.
Rimac’s C Two rivals elite cars like Ferrari’s top-of-the-line La Ferrari in terms of performance. The Croatian supercar accelerates to 60 miles per hour in as little as 1.85 seconds and boasts a top speed of 258 mph. Its electric powertrain offers a range of 400 miles and its battery can be recharged to 80 percent capacity in 30 minutes.
The Zagreb-based company was founded by Mate Rimac in 2009. In an investment round in September, Chinese battery maker Camel Group Ltd. invested $35 million in Rimac.