Porsche doubles down on Rimac investment

Porsche has announced it has upped its stake in Rimac from 10 to 15.5 per cent in a bid to expand its cooperation with the Croatian electric hypercar-maker.

Announcing the share grab over the weekend, Porsche's investment in Rimac comes just days after the unveiling of the battery-powered Tesla Model S-rivalling Porsche Taycan Turbo and Turbo S.

Commenting on the deal, Porsche's chief financial officer, Lutz Meschke, said: "Porsche has accompanied Rimac in its positive development for a year, it quickly became clear to us Porsche and Rimac could learn a lot from each other.

"We are convinced of Mate Rimac and his company, so now we have increased our stake and are expanding our cooperation in battery technology."

Mate Rimac, CEO and founder of Rimac also has positive thoughts about this partnership.

"It was one of the most important milestones in our history to win Porsche as a partner. The fact that Porsche is now increasing its stake is the best confirmation of our cooperation and the basis for an even closer relationship.

"We have many ideas that we want to action together in the future. The key is to create a win-win situation for both partners and to add value to our end customers by developing exciting electrified models."

Speculation is already rife that Porsche and Lamborghini are well underway into developing a battery-powered hypercar that could harness the knowhow developed from Rimac's latest C_Two, including sharing its bespoke architecture.

The C_Two is set to go on sale in 2020 and is said to be in a late stage of development with the car-maker recently announcing it was about to begin crash tests.

When it eventually arrives, the C_Two will be capable of topping out at 412km/h but even that figure is overshadowed by its acceleration.

The 1470kW hypercar is claimed to hit 100km/h in an incredible 1.95 seconds and 300km/h from standstill in a mind-bending 10.8 seconds.

Boasting a NEDC-verified range of 650km, the C-Two is said to be capable of being recharged 80 per cent of its batteries in just 30 minutes thanks to a 250kW fast-charging system.

It's not been reported how much Porsche paid for its latest slice of Rimac, which comes only 15 months since its initial 10 per cent investment back in June 2018.

Currently, Rimac, which was only established in 2013, employs 550 employees at its Zagreb headquarters. But despite its relatively small size the company has become world-renowned for its battery technology, high-voltage control units and electric powertrains.