Rimac offers first look at $2.4M electric Nevera hypercar

Croatian automaker Rimac has unveiled an electric hypercar with big claims for speed and power.

The Porsche-backed automaker released details of the Nevera on Tuesday. The hypercar is the production version of the C Two electric concept car that Rimac debuted at the Geneva auto show in 2018.

The name of the new car refers to a quick, powerful, and unexpected lightning storm that races across the Mediterranean Sea off the Croatian coast.

"This is it," said Rimac founder and CEO Mate Rimac of the C Two. "This is the car I had in mind when I embarked on the impossible journey 10 years ago."

Rimac said his eponymous company will deliver 150 units of the $2.4 million hypercar starting this year. He said the car will have 1,914-hp and 2,360 newton-meters (1,740 pound-feet) of torque.

With butterfly-style doors, aggressive air diffusers, and an air intake shaped like a cravat along each side, the Nevera combines many design elements found in other electric and hybrid hypercars like the Pininfarina Battista, Lotus Evija, and Koenigsegg Gemera.

The hypercar also incorporates well-proven technologies like lightweight, forged alloy wheels, Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes, and an active rear wing. Inside, the cockpit has room for two; digital screens predominate, with only essential functions left to tactile controls.

New details provided by Rimac claim that the Nevera would beat virtually all comers in performance tests during a period of upheaval in the supercar world.

According to Rimac, it will go to 60 mph (97 kph) in 1.85 seconds and reach top speeds of 258 mph (459 kph). By comparison, the $3.6 million Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport does zero-to-60-mph in 2.3 seconds; the $1.8 million Koenigsegg Gemera hybrid is expected to do it in 1.9 seconds.

A spokesman said the company will not vie for the top-speed title but did not say it would not go for a fastest-acceleration record. "We are already the fastest-accelerating production car in the world ... we just have not had it officially measured by any organization," he said in an email, referring to a pre-production prototype Nevera that ran an 8.6-second quarter-mile last week "without launch control and with about 90-95 percent full power."

The world record for top speed in a production car belongs to the $1.9 million SSC Tuatara, which hit an average top speed of 282.9 mph in the desert earlier this year.

Porsche share

The announcement comes soon after news that Porsche had agreed to buy more of the company and had already placed its first orders with Rimac to develop high-tech components. Porsche will invest 70 million euros ($84 million) to raise its stake in Rimac to 24 percent, from 15 percent, the German brand said on March 8.

Insiders have said the move could pave the way for parent Volkswagen Group to spin its ultraluxury French Bugatti brand into a joint venture between Porsche and Rimac.

Meanwhile, the 12-year-old Croatian company has been expanding operations at the manufacturing facility where it will build most of the components for the Nevera.

In April, it announced it would build a 200-million-euro campus capable of accommodating 2,500 employees, up 1,500 from the 1,000 who currently work at headquarters.

Rimac develops high-performance electric drivetrains and battery systems for customers that include Aston Martin, Porsche, Pininfarina, Hyundai, Kia, Koenigsegg, and Renault.

Production on the Nevera has already begun, the spokesman said. Deliveries will start by the end of 2021.