Mate Rimac, the founder and namesake of Rimac Automobili, is not one to play it safe. It’s only been a couple of months since they signed the deal to acquire a majority stake in Bugatti, but the soon-to-be CEO has already told the press that he already has big plans to do “something crazy” with the French brand.
And now, we finally have some more information on Bugatti’s future plans, coming right from the main man Rimac himself.
Speaking to Manny Khoshbin at the Monterey Car Week, Rimac told the YouTube personality and real estate mogul that the company has already started working on a new model “from the ground up” since about a year ago, with a launch scheduled in about three years time.
For loyal Bugatti customers such as Khoshbin himself, the company will start sharing more in under a year’s time – so we’ll likely hear about these developments not long after that. But the fact that Rimac emphasised on “from the ground up” seems to suggest that it won’t be a traditional Bugatti, i.e. not a Chiron successor.
As for the “something crazy”? In a recent interview with MotorTrend, Mate Rimac told the publication that there’s so much he can do with the brand. “Maybe an SUV or long hood coupe or something absolutely insane that no one thinks about,” he added.
MotorTrend reports that both Bugatti and Rimac hypercars will utilise Rimac’s high-performance electric powertrains in the future, with two new Bugatti models already planned for launch before 2030: the first a petrol-electric hybrid, followed by an EV afterwards.
While it won’t be easy to see Bugatti parting ways with the iconic W16 engine, it’s high time for Bugatti to actually keep up with technological advancements. If anything, at least it’ll be an exciting next few years for the French brand – and we can’t wait to see it unfold.
