Rimac Breaks Ground On New Croatian HQ, Complete With A Track

Earlier this month, Mate Rimac became the CEO of the newly-founded Bugatti Rimac joint company. When the announcement was made, the automaker briefly mentioned it is building a new headquarters in Croatia but didn’t reveal many details at the time. Now, Rimac Automobili has released photos and information about its new home.

Without even mentioning Bugatti’s name in the entire press release, Rimac explains it is already working on its new HQ and it should become one of the largest combined research and development and production centers in Europe, not just within the automotive industry. The facility is located near Zagreb and requires an investment of about €200 million or nearly $227 at the current exchange rates.

Rimac’s massive new home will serve not only as an HQ but also as a production and R&D hub for the company as it wants to ramp up its output and move from being a small and exotic automaker to producing in high numbers. Additionally, Rimac will also build battery systems for different manufacturers from the automotive industry. The new site will accommodate approximately 2,500 employees once it is fully completed in 2023.

The Rimac Campus will be carbon neutral and will be built in a modular way, so to speak. The Croatian automaker says, given its rapid rate of growth, the new HQ can be expanded over time without interrupting the overall design or its natural surroundings.

The new complex will feature a test track, a rooftop garden, a command center, VR rooms, and several top-secret project rooms. A customization room, where Rimac customers will play with their future cars, a museum, and a bar will also be part of the new campus.

“Ever since I founded the company, building the best possible working environment was key to me,” CEO Mate Rimac explains. “It is more natural to create great products when one is in the right surroundings. With the Campus we want to do exactly that – create the best environment for working and creativity, but not only for our employees. This is a place where customers, students, and the general public are welcome and invited to mingle with our employees. We also take great care to integrate the facility into nature and its surroundings and to be carbon neutral.”

Rimac Nevera Gets Fun Day In The Mud Before Final Crash Tests

These are the last crash tests for US homologation.

Rimac has periodically released updates about the Nevera's progress as it inches toward production. The latest video reveals the car has a bit more testing to complete before it's finalized and ready for deliveries to begin, and one remaining test is to crash it. Well, crash the hypercar at least two more times. However, the company decided to have a little fun with it before parting with one of its most pristine Nevera prototypes.

Rimac decided to take the hypercar somewhere most owners will never venture – off-road. The Nevera chews through wood-lined paths littered with leaves before traversing mud-caked roads to the site of the company's future campus, which is mostly a patch of dirt. Bugatti Rimac CEO Mate Rimac is behind the wheel, thrashing the hypercar through puddles of gunk, covering the car's blue paint in a dingy brown sludge.

Don't fret though, the Rimac cleans up nicely at the end, with Mate washing the car free of the dirt and debris that got caked onto the car. That includes clearing out all the leaves caught in the wide lower front grille openings and intakes. Leaves are even found in the door. The blue Nevera is one of 16 total prototypes Rimac built, and it was the model the company used for customer and media drives and additional testing.

Rimac has completed the Nevera's European crash tests, though it still has to face homologation in the US. That means the hypercar will undergo a pair of tests – a 30-degree frontal crash and an off-set barrier crash. It only makes sense to have a bit of fun with the hypercar before sending it off for crash testing. Hypercar owners aren't often the type to dirty their investment, though the Nevera performed quite well. A high-riding variant looks like it'd be fun to drive.