Car makers Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Motors have jointly invested EUR 80 million in Rimac Automobili, the Croatian high-performance electric vehicle technology and sportscar company said in a statement on Tuesday.
The cooperation agreement was signed at the headquarters of Rimac Automobili in Sveta Nedelja, just west of Zagreb, on Monday by the founder of Rimac Automobili, Mate Rimac, and the executive vice-chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, Euisun Chung.
Hyundai Motor Group is a global corporation with about 250,000 employees worldwide and includes Kia Motors.
Hyundai Motor will invest EUR 64 million in Rimac Automobili and Kia Motors will invest EUR 16 million.
Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors and Rimac will work closely together to develop an electric version of Hyundai Motor’s N brand midship sports car and a high-performance fuel cell electric vehicle, according to the statement.
“With the new collaboration underway, Hyundai Motor Group aims to speed up its transition towards Clean Mobility and position itself as a global leader in driving this change in the industry,” the statement said.
Chung said that Rimac Automobili is an innovative company with outstanding capabilities in high-performance electric vehicles. “Its startup roots and abundant experience collaborating with automakers combined with technological prowess makes Rimac the ideal partner for us. We look forward to collaborating with Rimac on our road to Clean Mobility.”
Rimac said: “We are very impressed by the Hyundai Motor Group’s vision and prompt and decisive initiative. We believe that this technology partnership will create maximum value for our companies and their customers. Rimac is still a young and relatively small but fast-growing company. We see a strong investor and technology partner in Hyundai Motor Group and believe that this collaboration will charge the company’s position as a Tier-1 electrification components supplier to the industry.”
Rimac develops and manufactures key electrification systems for many global automotive companies, currently employing over 500 people.
