Croatian manufacturer Rimac Automobili has just announced its new deal: this time a €80M worth contract made with the Italian car designer Automobili Pininfarina, both companies announced this Friday.
According to the contract, Rimac is to provide battery and drivetrain expertise, software and hardware to Pininfarina, thus help this Italian car designer in the development of their new electric hypercar, the PF0.
“We are very excited about this challenge”, says Mate Rimac, Founder and CEO of Rimac. “Combining Rimac values – technology, innovation and performance with the heritage, history and Italian design of Automobili Pininfarina makes a perfect synergy for an exciting new hypercar – the PF0. This partnership is a big milestone for both companies and we are looking forward to bringing this incredible machine to life together.”
To Pininfarina, this deal is a valuable collaboration that brings together the future of electric performance with the Pininfarina’s heritage.
“From the moment I met Mate, I knew that he and his team at Rimac could provide the power we need to deliver memorable driving experiences to match the incredible design standards set by Pininfarina”, said Michael Perschke, CEO of Automobili Pininfarina. “This collaboration brings together the future of electric performance with the heritage of Pininfarina’s legendary automotive styling capabilities to deliver a truly beautiful hypercar”.
This €80M worth deal comes just two months following the Rimac announcement that the German manufacturer Porsche AG is takin 10% shares in Rimac Automobili. What’s even more interesting is that Automobili Pininfarina has just recently hired ex‑Porsche Mission E engineer Dr. Christian Jung as its Chief Technical Officer for their recently opened Automobili Pininfarina offices in Munich, Germany.
Founded in 2009 with headquarters in Croatia, Rimac started as a garage project and grew into a globally recognized technology leader, built upon the passion and vision of the company’s Founder and CEO Mate Rimac. Today, Rimac Automobili is a technology powerhouse, manufacturing electric hypercars and providing full technology solutions to global automotive manufacturers. At the moment, the company’s main focus is high-voltage battery technology and electric powertrains.
The company’s flagship, the Concept_One, was entirely designed, developed and manufactured in-house. In 2018 Rimac introduced the next generation hypercar, the C_Two, a car alive with technology. Reportedly, the two-seater C Two is faster than Tesla’s next-generation Roadster prototype revealed last November by Elon Musk. The company employs over 350 people and has grown into a leader within a highly competitive industry with the ambition to become a full electrification partner for many OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers).
Apart from Porsche, other big companies that invested or cooperate with this Croatian company are Aston Martin, Jaguar, Renault and China’s Camel Group.
Automobili Pininfarina, on the other hand, owned by the Mahindra Group, was announced in Rome in April 2018 as the world’s newest car brand with an ambition to sustainably develop and produce fully-electric, ultra-luxury cars at the pinnacle of design and desirability in their respective segments. Recently it was announced that they HQ for this brand will be based in Munich, Germany. The Munich-based company will offer a range of cars designed and hand-crafted by legendary Italian automotive styling house Pininfarina SpA. The first Pininfarina-branded stand-alone car – codename PF0 – will be revealed in 2019 at the Geneva Motor Show, while the production is planned for the beginning of 2020.
