Mate Rimac’s life, history, and dreams. He creates electric hypercars with 2,000 horsepower and will design the Bugattis for the future.
Visionary, inventor and designer. He is also an innovator, entrepreneur, great car enthusiast, and a brilliant pioneer in electric hypercars. Many have compared him with Elon Musk or Nikola Tesla.
These are just a few of the many words Mate Rimac uses to describe the 33-year old Bosnian-Croatian, who in 2009 founded Rimac Automobili and now leads the new Bugatti–Rimac joint venture with Porsche.
He dreamed about cars and invented new tech gadgets.
Mate Rimac’s story and life seem straight from a novel. It is a tale of times past in which a young Mate showed an interest in inventions and cars at the beginning of the 1980s in Bosnia, which was very poor.
He was born in Livno, Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1988. His family moved to Germany with him when he was just three years old. Then they returned to Croatia to settle. He completed his studies in Germany and was enrolled at VERN’ University, Zagreb. Mate was 18 when he won numerous international competitions in innovation and technical development in Germany and South Korea. Mate was the inventor of the “iGlove”, a digital glove that could be used in place of a keyboard and mouse. This was long before touch screens.
Record-breaking Rimac e-M3
In 2006, Mate bought an old 1984 BMW 323i (E30), and entered local races with it. Mate had an idea to use a 600-horsepower electric engine to make the Rimac e-M3. Mate also used this as a development mule to build his first supercar.
Although the initial results were not great, he eventually won the first race against gasoline cars in 2010. In 2010, he also won the first race against electric cars. His unique BMW-turned-electric BMW set a series of acceleration records that were recognized by both the FIA in 2011 and the Guinness Book of Records.
Rimac eM3 FIA Records
- 1/8 mile: 7.549 Seconds
- 1/4 mile: 11.808 Seconds
- 1/2 km: 13.714 Seconds
- 1 km: 23.260 Seconds
- 1 mile takes 35.347 seconds
His company Rimac Automobili was formed in 2010 and consisted of Mate and Adriano Mudri. The Rimac Concept_One was launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show 2011 with a power output of 1,088 horsepower. The final version would produce 1,224 horsepower.
150 units will be produced of the Nevera.Being a supplier of electrification parts for OEMs
We found that Mate Rimac’s philosophy of life and entrepreneurial spirit was not the main goal of producing electric supercars or hypercars. In an interview with Automotive News Europe he stated that his most ambitious project is to be the main supplier for electric and electrified system to all major manufacturers, particularly those who are developing new high-performance EVs.
Rimac Automobili has a long history of joint projects and collaborations with suppliers and automakers for the development of components and complete electric traction systems. These are the official ones.
- AMG
- Aston Martin
- Cupra
- Ferrari
- Hyundai
- Jaguar
- Koenigsegg
- Magna
- Mercedes
- Pininfarina
- Porsche
- Renault
Rimac Automobili, a 795-million euro company
Rimac Automobili, which has nearly 1,000 employees and a value of 795 millions euros, is located in Sveta Nedeja, Croatia. Its headquarters are near Zagreb. The following is the breakdown of its ownership:
- Mate Rimac (37%).
- Porsche (24%)
- (12%)
- Other investors (27%)
Musk, Tesla and Pagani are his heroes
Finally, let’s take a look at some of the legends that have inspired Mate Rimac’s work. This was reported in an interview with Automotive News Europe January 2020.
Elon Musk is the one I have the most affinity for, but I also looked up at Nikola Tesla when I first started this journey; I am a Croatian just like him. Christian von Koenigsegg, Horacio Pagani, and I were both my heroes at the beginning. But today, we are friends and collaborate.