Rimac will present its C_Two at the Geneva Motor Show

Mate Rimac, founder and CEO of Rimac Automobili, has announced plans to open a new Research and Development centre in the United Kingdom, following an agreement with HR Owen, its official distributor in the country.

Rimac has confirmed to some sources that he chose the UK because “he likes working with British people” and sees the country as home to Europe’s best engineers. This is one of the few pieces of good news lately for the British automotive industry, which has been under continuous pressure, mainly due to the fallout from Brexit and to foreign-owned car manufacturers’ response to a negative outcome.

Rimac has not given further details about the company’s new R&D centre, focusing instead on preparing the all-electric hypercar C_Two for production. The latest model will be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show next March.

Production of the Rimac C_Two is expected to begin in late 2020, with only 150 units planned. Its electric powertrain consists of four electric motors producing a combined total output of 1,914 CV and a maximum torque of 2,300 Nm.

The Rimac C_Two makes its debut in Geneva

The juice is provided by a 120 kWh battery, which allows the C_Two to travel around 650 km on a single charge. But the most impressive figures, naturally, relate to performance: 0-100 km/h in 1.85 seconds, 0-160 km/h in 4.3, and a top speed of 412 km/h.

Rimac, which is 15.5 per cent owned by Porsche and 15 per cent by Hyundai, will build the C_Two alongside the Pininfarina Battista, which uses the same carbon-fibre tub and electric powertrain.

The car began life with a two-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox, but Rimac says progress in electric motor design has allowed for a lighter and less complex single-speed unit.

Production of the C_Two will begin well before the end of the year, says Rimac, because the company will build around 25 pre-production prototypes. The finished cars will weigh around 2,000 kg (almost the same as a Bugatti Chiron), which seems heavy until you remember that 700 kg of that is a 120 kWh battery offering enormous performance and a generous range according to the WLTP homologation cycle.

The 600-strong organisation has captivated the industry’s ‘big names’ with its ambition and expertise, and has already developed a thriving business supplying battery technology and electrified subsystems to major car companies. It will carefully limit production of its own cars. “If we stay below 100 units a year,” says Mate Rimac, “the big guys don’t care.”

Finally, the production version of the Rimac C_Two will also adopt a different name from the concept. “I can’t tell you what it’s called,” Rimac said. Why is that? “We haven’t decided yet.”