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Rimac inks deal to purchase 55% of Bugatti from VW Group

ZAGREB, Croatia — Croatian electric supercar builder Rimac is taking over the iconic French manufacturer Bugatti in a deal that is reported to be worth millions of euros. Rimac said GermanyÂ’s Volkswagen Group, including the Porsche division — which owns a majority stake in Bugatti — plans to create a new joint venture. The new company will be called Bugatti-Rimac. Rimac Automobili announced Monday that it will be combining forces with Bugatti to “create a new automotive and technological powerhouse.” Rimac has progressed in 10 years from a one-man garage startup to a successful company that produces electric supercars. Mate Rimac, who founded the company in 2009, says the venture is an “exciting moment” and calls the combination of the companies “a perfect match for each other.” Porsche will own 45% of Bugatti-Rimac while Rimac Automobili will hold the remaining 55% stake, according to Croatian media reports. Financial details of the deal were not published. Bugattis will continue to be assembled in eastern France, where the company was established in 1909. The vehicles will use engines developed and made in Croatia. “In an industry evolving at ever-increasing speed, flexibility, innovation and sustainability remain at the very core of RimacÂ’s operations," the company said. “Uniting RimacÂ’s technical expertise and lean operations with BugattiÂ’s 110-year heritage of design and engineering prowess represents a fusion of leading automotive minds." Earnings/Financials Green Bugatti Automakers Porsche Volkswagen Green Automakers Electric Supercars

Inattentive driver leaves a Bugatti Chiron nose down in a ditch

Even the most capable and experienced drivers sometimes have a lapse in concentration, like the Bugatti test driver who put this $2.5 million Chiron into a ditch at a Volkswagen test facility in Wolfsburg, Germany. Bugatti confirmed to German publication Bild that the unfortunate accident was caused by an "inattentive" test driver. There were no injuries in the crash, though the Chiron has certainly looked better. The photo from the GTBoard.com Facebook page shows the partially covered supermegahypercar being carried away by a tractor. The nose is busted, but the rest of the car seems to be intact. It's not clear what exactly caused the crash or how fast the test driver was going, but it's likely very easy to lose control when you have 16 cylinders and four turbochargers churning out 1,500 horsepower. As a test vehicle, this particular Chiron may have been testing some new parts or settings, so the driver may not be entirely to blame. Maybe the tester was just trying to avoid a low-flying pelican commit insurance fraud by intentionally sinking the car. At least the ditch wasn't a lake. Related Video: News Source: BildImage Credit: GTBoard Bugatti Coupe Supercars Bugatti Chiron

Why the Bugatti Royale was the first car granted diplomatic immunity

Bugatti's cars have participated in the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance since the inaugural event was held in 1950. The judges have given the prestigious Best of Show award to a Bugatti nine times, but the firm notes one of the most memorable moments at the concours was displaying the six examples of the Royale on the lawn in 1985. Getting six vehicles together doesn't sound awfully difficult, yet organizing the Royale display was actually a massive undertaking that involved international law and charter flights. Bugatti only built six units of the Royale, a 252-inch-long ultra-luxurious car powered by a 12.8-liter straight-eight engine, between 1926 and 1933. While all of them survived, which is astonishing considering what many went through, they were scattered on both sides of the pond. One of the biggest hurdles was that two of the Royales were located in the fascinating Cite de l'Automobile museum in Mulhouse, France, and they were part of the batch seized from the Schlumpf brothers by the French government. "The museum was worried that if the cars left French soil, the Schlumpf brothers might attempt a legal move to seize the cars back," explained Chris Bock, who played an instrumental role in organizing the display. Bock and his colleagues convinced American government officials to grant the two cars diplomatic immunity. This was the first time a car had benefited from this status. However, at the time, cargo flights from France to the United States stopped in Canada to refuel, and the immunity wasn't valid on Canadian soil, so Air France operated a direct flight from Paris to Los Angeles to get the Royales to the Pacific coast. And then, one flight became two. Still worried about retaliation from the Schlumpf brothers, the museum insisted that each car be transported separately. Sending the four others to Monterey was simple. Two were in the William F. Harrah collection in Reno, Nevada, and one was in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. The sixth arrived in an even more laid-back manner. "Then, a guy arrived with the sixth Royale, which belonged to (American race car driver) Briggs Cunningham. He'd towed it on an open trailer with a Ford F-250 pickup truck. He said: 'oh, it'll be fine, we'll just throw a tarp over it,' while everyone else was running around hyperventilating," remembered Bock. Arranging the display wasn't easy, but it paid off.