Croatian electric vehicle company Rimac has gained fame for building insanely quick fully electric hypercars, but it seems like the company is heading towards building something a little more affordable. And if there are two manufacturers that know about affordability in this day and age, Hyundai and Kia would be two strong choices.
The two Korean manufacturers have announced a partnership with Rimac in order to build an electric mid-engined sports car to make a statement in the electric market.
Investing $110 million and $27 million respectively, Hyundai and Kia will work with Rimac to develop a series of new vehicles, with the initial focus being on a Hyundai N sports car.
“Rimac is an innovative company with outstanding capabilities in high-performance electric vehicles, said Hyundai's Vice Chairman, Euisun Chung. “Its startup roots and abundant experience collaborating with automakers with technological prowess makes Rimac the ideal partner for us. We look forward to collaborating with Rimac on our road to Clean Mobility.”
Founder and CEO of Rimac, Mate Rimac added: “We are very impressed by Hyundai Motor Group’s vision as well as prompt and decisive initiative. We believe this technology partnership will create maximum value for our companies and their customers. Rimac is still young and relatively small, but a fast-growing company. We see a strong investor and technology partner in Hyundai Motor Group and believe this collaboration will charge our position as a Tier-1 electrification components supplier to the industry.”
While news of a mid-engined Hyundai car might come as a surprise, their first attempt at the format dates back to 2014, when the Veloster RM concept was unveiled.
Powered by a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-banger mounted in the middle, the RM concept produced 220kW and 382Nm of torque, and could shoot to 100km/h in 4.7 seconds. Back in 2016 it was spotted at the Nurburgring, but that was the last time it surfaced.
Rimac's track record includes two incredibly quick battery-electric hypercars, the Concept One and the C_Two. The company has also collaborated with other manufacturers in the past, including Aston Martin and Porsche.
It's anyone's game guessing what the finished product is going to look like, but we can't wait to see it.