Electric Bugatti: VW Group is giving up control of Bugatti to an electric supercar maker

Electric supercar company Rimac is set to take control of Bugatti, the brand owned by Volkswagen Group that is most famous for producing the Bugatti Veyron and Chiron — both of which are reportedly capable of reaching speeds in excess of 260mph.

This deal takes the strategic direction of Bugatti, which has long been a lossmaking business despite the eye-watering prices of its cars, out of VW Group's hands. With VW Group delivering 9-10 million cars per year, across a variety of brands, Bugatti has felt increasingly out of place. In 2020 it delivered just 77 cars, down 5 from the 82 it delivered in 2019, which is a number so small that it basically shouldn't show up at all in this chart of VW Group deliveries.

‍Better together

‍The new company formed is set to be called Bugatti Rimac, and it brings together a traditional and well established hypercar brand with the exact opposite — a scrappy electric vehicle start-up founded by an ambitious 23-year old Croatian called Mate Rimac who initially gained notoriety for his custom built electric BMW.

For VW Group, which has ambitious plans in mass-market electric vehicles, this deal is a clean way of passing operational control of a storied brand to a start-up that is embracing the challenge of building the next generation of electric supercars. For Rimac, it solidifies their pole position in the niche world of electric hypercars.