Porsche has bought a 10 per cent stake in Croatian electric hypercar manufacturer Rimac Automobil, in a bid to speed up the development of its own electric sports cars. 

You may recognise the name Rimac, as it's the company responsible for building the Concept One, the car Richard Hammond crashed while filming for The Grand Tour. Since then the company has comeback with the C Two, which it unveiled at the Geneva Motorshow 2018, where Porsche also unveiled its Mission E Cross Turismo

It's not just cars that Rimac builds though, as it also supplies powertrain and battery systems to other car makers, such as Aston Martin for the Valkyrie, and Jaguar for the electric E-Type driven by Prince Harry at his wedding. Porsche plans to use its minor stake in Rimac to take advantage of these electric systems. 

Porsche buys 10 per cent stake in Rimac to speed up its EV development image 2
Rimac

Lutz Meschke, deputy chairman of the executive board at Porsche said of the deal: "By developing the purely electric two-seaters super sports cars, like the Concept One or C_ Two, as well as core vehicle systems, Rimac has impressively demonstrated its credentials in the field of electromobility."

"We feel that Rimac’s ideas and approaches are extremely promising, which is why we hope to enter into close collaboration with the company in the form of a development partnership."

As a result of the deal, Rimac hopes to become better known within the EV industry, and to become the supplier of choice for manufacturers as they make the move from combustion to electric power. Mate Rimac, Rimac CEO said: "This partnership now is an important step for Rimac on our way to become a component and system supplier of choice for the industry in electrification, connectivity and the exciting field of advanced driver assistance systems." 

The results of the Rimac deal won't be seen in the Taycan, the first all-electric car that Porsche will release. That will be more of a sports car/supercar, the partnership with Rimac should see more bonkers hypercars released. We're already salivating at the thought.