Hyundai and Rimac creating 'game-changing' EV sports car

Hyundai is teaming up with Croatian hypercar-maker, Rimac, to develop a new pure-electric sports car that it says will be nothing less than a 'game changer.'

Making the announcement on Tuesday last week, the Korean car giant confirmed that as well as the joint partnership it would take an €80 million ($A130m) stake in Rimac.

It's thought the arrangement will see Hyundai take advantage of the technology developed for cars like the 800kW Concept_One.

Hyundai is the latest car-maker to get into bed with Rimac. Porsche last year purchased a 10 per cent stake in the company.

As well as the state-of-the-art sports car, which is almost certain to become a flagship model for the brand's Hyundai N performance sub-brand, a new Hyundai fuel-cell car will also be developed in partnership with Rimac.

Speaking to

"You could say it is a marketing instrument on the outside but it's also a game-changer on the inside," he said, adding that the design of the car needs to make it clear it has an advanced powertrain.

"We have to speak to people who want to be advanced, who want to lead in terms of taste and style and also being less conventional," he said. "It will be a real challenge for the design department to work on this."

It's not been decided yet which of Hyundai's global studios will be responsible for the creating the shape of the new sports car, but it's thought the European, Korean and US design centres will all compete against one another and submit proposals to the car-maker's head of design, Luc Donckerwolke.

During the interview Beurkle refused to confirm where the zero-emission Hyundai sports car would be positioned in the market.

Nor would he provide any hints how powerful it would be, but the connection with Rimac might suggest supercar-levels of performance.

Recently, Rimac unveiled its C2 electric hypercar that produces almost 1500kW.

The Croatian car-maker has also announced it will partner Automobili Pininfarina to help develop its 1420kW Battista hypercar.

As part of that arrangement, Rimac has agreed to supply the Italian stylist-turned-car-maker with not only its pure-electric powertrain but its lithium-ion battery pack.

In a similar arrangement, batteries and associated electrical systems will be supplied by Rimac to Aston Martin for the forthcoming Valkyrie hypercar.

Like other car-makers, Hyundai was attracted to the small pure-electric hypercar-maker for its ability to blend huge performance with relative lightweight batteries that still managed to extract a decent range.

"Rimac is doing things a bit novel with respect to the amount of energy you can store and the mass of these vehicles. That's part of the reason for the cooperation," said Hyundai vehicle development boss, Tyrone Johnson.

The latest announcement of the pure-electric sports car follows Hyundai's commitment that it will offer 44 battery-powered models by 2025.

Sister brand Kia, meanwhile, says it will have 19 electrified cars in its range by 2022, including six pure-electric cars, six plug-in hybrids, six hybrids and one fuel-cell car.