Anika Begay
Rimac, the Croatian EV upstart that has gone from garage to supercar to tech powerhouse merged with Bugatti, has beefed up its Nevera hypercar. And along the way, Rimac has managed to squeeze more power out of it.
On Friday, at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering at Monterey Car Week, Rimac unveiled the Nevera R, an all-electric hypercar that is supposed to push the performance envelope of its predecessor. The result: a sports hypercar that produces 2,107 horsepower, can hit a top speed of 217 mph, or even 256 mph under Rimac’s guidance, and go from zero to 60 mph in 1.74 seconds. The company did not release an estimate for the vehicle’s range.
Such specifications seem to support Rimac’s goal for the R in the new Nevera R’s name, which stands for radical, rebellious, and relentless. The Nevera R’s larger rear wheels, extremely low nose, high fixed rear wing, and carbon-fiber construction complete the “in case it wasn’t clear, this is an extreme performance hypercar” package.
The Rimac Nevera R, presented for the first time in the Nebula green color, brings attention back to Rimac and its ever-evolving and growing company.
But the new EV is designed to do more than just punch. Rimac Automobili founder Mate Rimac explained in a pre-unveiling call that the Nevera R, which features four electric motors, advanced ceramic brakes, a new 108-kilowatt-hour battery pack, new Michelin Pilot Cup tires, and all-wheel torque vectoring, is designed for cornering.
“Nobody felt a lack of power in the Nevera,” said CEO Mate Rimac. “But we decided to, you know, squeeze a little bit more than we knew we could still get out of the car. And, of course, give it a more aggressive, even more interesting design than before.”
Rimac will produce just 40 units of the Nevera R, which has a base price of €2.3 million ($2.5 million at today’s exchange rate).
For comparison, the original two-seater Nevera makes 1,914 horsepower, can accelerate from zero to 60 mph in 1.85 seconds, and has a top speed of 258 mph. When Rimac Automobili began production of the original $2.5 million Nevera in 2022, those specs made it faster than any production car.
The Rimac Automobili brand was founded in 2009 by Mate Rimac, then a 21-year-old student. In 2011, he launched his first fully electric hypercar, the Concept One. The Concept Two would follow and eventually morph into the Nevera.
When the Rimac Nevera was unveiled in 2021, Rimac was a unicorn startup that had also launched a technology subsidiary to supply other automakers like backers Hyundai and Porsche with advanced EV components. That same year, Rimac would announce a merger with Bugatti, the iconic French supercar maker.
The company is much more complex in structure than it was in its early days in Mate Rimac’s hobby garage. Bugatti-Rimac, which makes combustion, electric, and hybrid hypercars, is majority-owned by Rimac Group and 45 percent owned by Porsche. Underneath Bugatti-Rimac is Rimac Automobili, which is the electric hypercar brand. Rimac Group, in which Mate Rimac still has a majority stake, also includes subsidiary Rimac Technology and Verne, a newly launched robotaxi business.
“As you can see, it’s a pretty broad spectrum,” Mate Rimac said when explaining the company’s structure. “So the days are not very boring here. There’s so much going on.”
The Nevera R’s unveiling also comes amid a turbulent electric vehicle market. While electric vehicle sales continue to grow globally, U.S. and European automakers have struggled to provide an affordable EV to customers who have shied away from pricier luxury models. A slew of EV startups that jumped into the space several years ago in an attempt to match Tesla’s success have dwindled to just a few.
Rimac, which has a different mission than those trying to sell affordable EVs in volume, has been one of the few success stories. “Just taking a regular car and making it electric is not enough,” Mate Rimac said. “It has to be better; it has to offer something unique. And in our case, you know, the customer group we’re talking to is basically collectors.”
