The first fruits of Bugatti and Rimac’s union have been teased.
At the announcement of Bugatti Rimac‘s new Berlin-based design and engineering hub, two of its upcoming vehicles were teased at the back of a photo under silky sheets.
One of these teased vehicles is the next Rimac all-electric hypercar, which is under a white sheet. The other is Bugatti’s next vehicle, under a blue sheet.
Although it’s hard to make out entirely what these cars will look like, they both have design cues that represent their respective brands.
From what we can see, the upcoming Rimac car appears to share its long headlight design with the Nevera and the upcoming Bugatti car has a similar horseshoe grille to the Chiron.
Even though we’ve now seen these vehicles under silky sheets, their design and shape could change before they make it to production.
In an interview with Automotive News Europe, Bugatti Rimac CEO Mate Rimac indicated the next-generation Bugatti hypercar will be “heavily electrified” but will “have a very attractive combustion engine”.
“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.”
The Bugatti Rimac CEO did say, though, that Bugatti will have an electric car “one day, but not today”.
The new design and engineering hub in Berlin will be overseen by Bugatti Rimac design director Achim Anscheidt and Bugatti Rimac CTO Emilio Scervo.
The hub will not only house design and engineering teams, but include other functions including procurement, finance, program management, IT, legal and marketing.
All of these teams will work hand-in-hand with their colleagues in Croatia and Molsheim, France.
At this stage, Bugatti Rimac hasn’t released information of this new Berlin design and engineering hub’s cost and size.
In addition to the new Berlin hub, Bugatti Rimac is currently constructing a €200 million (A$297 million) headquarters in Zagreb, Croatia.
In November 2021, ownership of Bugatti was passed from the Volkswagen Group to a joint venture company known as Bugatti Rimac.
Rimac Group has a 55 per cent stake in the new firm, 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 seperate, future vehicles will share technology.
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