German Volkswagen Group is expected to sell its supercar brand Bugatti to Croatian high-performance electric vehicle company Rimac Automobili (Rimac Automobili). Instead, Volkswagen will own a 15.5% stake in Limak. It is a kind of swap (exchange) transaction, and it is analyzed that the survival game of the supercar industry began in earnest during the transition to electric cars. Volkswagen’s brand Bugatti, which has a history of more than 100 years, was exchanged for a stake in a startup that had been established for more than 10 years.
“There was a discussion about how Bugatti could be developed in the best way,” said Oliver Blume, CEO of Porsche of Volkswagen Group, in a recent interview with the local German media. “The Rimac and Bugatti are technically suitable. We look forward to the deal coming soon.”
Limak is an electric vehicle company founded in 2009 by the inventor Matter Limak, who was a student at the University of Applied Sciences in Bern, Croatia. It only produces hypercar electric cars that perform more than supercars, and it received attention by unveiling the two-seater sports car’Concept One’ at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2011. The mass-production model developed based on Concept One won the championship in drag racing, a race that runs fast on a straight 400m road in 2016.
The’Concept2′, which is scheduled to be released this year, is equipped with a motor with a maximum output of 1888 horsepower, and it takes only 1.85 seconds to reach 100 km/h from a standstill. The maximum speed is 412 km and the selling price is expected to be around 2 million euros (about 2.7 billion won).
Limak received investment from Porsche, a member of the Volkswagen Group, as well as Hyundai Motor Group and Chinese battery maker Carmel. Carmel acquired a 14.0% stake in Rimac in 2014, followed by a 10.0% acquisition by Porsche in 2018. Since then, Carmel and Porsche have expanded their stakes to 18.1% and 15.1%, respectively. Hyundai Motor (005380)And hunger (Kia Motors (000270)) Invested a total of 80 million euros (110 billion won) in Limak in May 2019, and they have 11.0% and 2.7% stakes, respectively. Hyundai Motor Company and Kia announced their plan to increase competitiveness in the field of high-performance hydrogen electric vehicles by using Limak’s technology at the time.
Bugatti supercar’Chiron’./provided by Bugatti
In the wake of the electric vehicle change, global supercar makers are in danger of discarding the internal combustion engine engine, which is the heart and symbol of supercars. In a situation where the reason for the existence of a supercar may disappear, the reason Limak is attracting worldwide attention is because it devised a way to enjoy the supercar in a different way instead of the driving feel unique to the internal combustion engine.
The representative one is the driver training program that Limac released. Limac uses an artificial intelligence system to tell supercar drivers who enjoy circuit driving how to run faster and what needs to be supplemented in the driving process. Drivers who have improved their driving skills with the help of the program will be able to enjoy the full potential of a supercar.
Rimac’s competitiveness is also securing battery and power technology suitable for supercars that need light and agile driving performance. Due to the characteristics of electric vehicles that must be equipped with high-capacity batteries, heavy batteries can degrade the driving performance of supercars. Limak is developing a battery management system (BMS) technology as well as a powertrain and battery pack that can improve this.
Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Eui-sun Eui-seon (right) signed an investment cooperation with CEO Matterimak at the headquarters in Limak, Croatia in May 2019. / Provided by Hyundai Motor Company
In particular, Limak’s core business is to sell electric supercar platforms rather than directly producing finished cars. As an engineering company, it is a strategy to make prototypes and sell electric vehicle-related technologies and parts such as powertrains and batteries that go into them to other automakers. It is known that.
If Volkswagen acquires an additional stake in Rimac through the sale of Bugatti, the Volkswagen Group’s dominance over Rimac will expand. Volkswagen owns a 100% stake in Porsche, so if Volkswagen secures a 15% stake in Limac this time, the Volkswagen Group’s stake in Limac will reach 30%. Some analysts say that if Limak becomes a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, in the long term, Volkswagen will be able to receive considerable help in the process of electrifying other supercar brands such as Lamborghini and Bentley.
An official in the domestic automobile industry said, “It costs a lot of investment in the process of converting electric vehicles due to the nature of supercars that have to pay off high performance, but it is difficult to expand the consumption market for high-priced models in a short period of time.” “If you choose to work with a professional company, you can make the conversion more efficient.”
