Bugatti is now joined at the hip with electric hypercar specialist Rimac, but that doesn’t mean it’ll immediately offer EV hypercars of its own.
Bugatti Rimac CEO Mate Rimac has detailed the future of Bugatti in an interview with Automotive News Europe.
Mr Rimac indicates the next-generation Bugatti hypercar will be “heavily electrified” but will “have a very attractive combustion engine”.
Rimac Nevera
He explained “the easiest thing for us would be to take the Nevera and slam a Bugatti logo on it and call it a day. But I was against it.”
“I am an electric car guy, but a Bugatti should still have a combustion engine for some time,” said Mr Rimac.
“When people see the next-generation Bugatti, I think they will be surprised that I was pushing for something like that because people associate me with electric cars.
“Considering the brand and the customers and the technology available, I think that we are developing the best possible solution for Bugatti, which is not an electric car today.”
Bugatti Chiron Super Sport
The Bugatti Rimac CEO did say, though, that Bugatti will have an electric car “one day, but not today”.
The French hypercar manufacturer ceased to become a wholly owned entity of the Volkswagen Group in November 2021, with ownership being passed to a joint venture company called Bugatti Rimac.
Rimac Group has a 55 per cent stake in the joint venture, with Porsche owning the other 45 per cent.
For now, Bugatti and Rimac will continue to operate separately, retaining their existing production facilities and distribution channels.
Although the brands will be kept separate, future vehicles will share technology.
Mr Rimac said next-generation Bugatti vehicles will continue to offer “really exceptional products that are not comparable with anything else on the market”.
“Bugatti is completely sold out until 2025,” he added.
The Bugatti Rimac CEO explained that Bugatti’s most recent success was built around the W16 engine, which was used in the Veyron and Chiron.
The Bugatti W16 engine is almost 20 years old and Mr Rimac labeled it as “an amazing powerplant that created the hypercar business”.
Rimac Group, the parent company of Bugatti Rimac, is currently constructing its €200 million (A$308.6 million) headquarters in Zagreb, Croatia.
Known as the ‘Rimac Campus’ it’ll serve as the company’s international research and development (R&D) and production base for all future Rimac products, including the Rimac Nevera and their key components.
This campus will also become home of R&D for future Bugatti models, though these vehicles will be built at Bugatti’s Molsheim plant in France.
The 197,575 square-metre complex will feature an on-site test track, museum, design, engineering, production and test facilities, as well as “high-end customisation” showroom, bar, restaurant and retail spaces.
Rimac also says there’ll be a gym and training centre, kindergarten, auditorium, conference hall, education rooms, rooftop garden, command centre, VR-rooms and several top-secret project rooms.
At this stage Rimac expects the construction of this complex to be completed in 2023, though future additions are planned.
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