The Volkswagen-owned Buggati brand will be taken over by Croatian manufacturer Rimac Automobili, resulting in the formation of Bugatti Rimac.
Talk about a German manufacturer Volkswagen became weary of the burden of the famous but controversial Buggati brand, began last year. At the same time, the first information appeared about the ongoing negotiations with the Croatian manufacturer of electric vehicles Rimac Automobili.
This company is not yet particularly known to the general public, but has already managed to become famous as the creator of the world's fastest (for 2013) all-electric supercar - the first model, which received the unpretentious name Concept One, managed to reach a speed of 305 km / h, accelerating to the first hundreds in 2.8 sec. Rimac Automobili itself was founded in 2009 by businessman Mate Rimak, who is sometimes called the "Croatian Elon Musk".
Initially, it was assumed that Volkswagen would simply acquire a significant stake in Rimac Automobili, transferring control of the Buggati brand to the latter. But in fact, everything turned out to be much more confusing. The Bugatti Rimac company formed as a result of the transaction will be owned by the company on 45% Porsche (which in turn is owned by Volkswagen) and on 55%, a specially created Rimac Group for this purpose, also owning Rimac Technology on 100%. At the same time, Porsche already owns the 24% in the Rimac Group.
The main stake in 37% from Rimac Group will remain with its founder Mate Rimac. Another 12% will be received by the South Korean automaker Hyundai, and the remaining 27% was divided among various small investors. The Rimac Group will be headquartered in Zagreb, with a new Rimac Campus soon to be built to accommodate 2,500 employees.
The benefits for all parties are clear. So, Volkswagen is getting rid of a bright, but very controversial asset, because the future of extremely powerful and expensive Buggati is in question against the backdrop of declining consumer interest in cars with internal combustion engines. Given that the number of buyers of these high-speed monsters with W16 engines has never been high. As for Rimac, this brand gets access to the already formed customer base and Buggati dealer network.
It is important to note that despite the formation of the Bugatti Rimac, both of its brands will remain independent of each other. At the same time, it is expected that the first fully electric Bugatti model will be demonstrated to us in the next ten years. And this will mean a new chapter in the history of the iconic brand.
