Electric automaker Rimac Automobili has unveiled new designs for its €200 million state-of-the-art home in Croatia, including an on-site test track, accommodation, museum, and campus facilities.
Recently EV hypercar manufacturer Rimac Automobili unveiled designs for its new €200 million state-of-the-art home in Croatia, including an on-site test track, accommodation, a museum, and campus facilities.
From humble beginnings in the garage of founder Mate Rimac, over the last ten years, Rimac Automobili has created some of the most thrilling electric hypercars and become a global leader in technology thanks to Mate’s vision for an electric future.
Reflecting its role as a strategic partner to the likes of Hyundai-Kia and Porsche, Rimac is now looking to bring together all of its people and functions into one unique location and have found a place to call home only a few miles from Rimac’s current facilities.
Working with famed Croatian architectural firm 3LHD, Rimac is looking to showcase its spirit and focus on attention to detail and create a futuristic complex that will house all operations for many years to come.
The new complex will also be its international R&D and production base and enable the company to ramp up from prototype and smaller volume projects to high-volume production of its high-performance electric drivetrain and battery systems for many global car companies.
The new building site, designed around the idea of providing the best possible working environment for an international workforce, is almost double the size of the current location and will occupy a site of 200,000 m² with works to be completed by 2023.
Putting considerable time and thought into the new design, Mate Rimac has personally been keen to ensure that the new home embodies not just the brand’s character but also that of its people. As such, the spaces have been refined to be friendly, open, and warm, with more than a hint of fun. Simultaneously, befitting the company’s leading-edge technology status, it will be contemporary, light-filled, and take inspiration from its natural surroundings.
Sharing on the brand’s exciting new plans, Rimac Automobili CEO and Founder Mate Rimac explains, “Just 10 years ago this company was only me in a garage, working on electric performance vehicles and components. Since then, we have grown to around 1,000 employees, formed strategic partnerships with Porsche, Hyundai Motor Group and others, and are working with the biggest names in the automotive industry. But, one thing that we have always committed to is developing our business within Croatia; we’re proud to be here, and with this new location, it will be our long-term home.
We have now reached a point where we need to build our long-term home in Croatia, and that’s exactly what the Rimac Campus is. Having outgrown our existing facilities, we’re now creating a space that best reflects our brand and our ambitions, working with world-leading architects to build a campus that sits comfortably within the natural beauty of Croatia while also bringing every aspect of Rimac into one place.
The top priority of the project was to create the best possible working environment for our employees and to allow visitors and the public to enjoy the space and mix with Rimac employees. The campus is our springboard to the growth plans we have over the next decade and beyond, strengthening us as niche hypercar maker, a leading Tier 1 supplier of electric performance technology to the world’s largest automotive manufacturers and an early mover in the worlds of autonomy and mobility.”
Using their extensive experience in creating spectacular buildings and complexes, often integrating spaces with nature, Croatian architectural firm 3LHD has taken design inspiration from several sources, including the curves and movement of Rimac’s C_Two hypercar and speed itself.
Focusing on the concept of speed, the new Rimac complex is influenced by how various groups enter and flow through the site. For example, employees will naturally be keen to get to their workspaces quickly, while visitors and museum guests are more likely to experience the indoor communal spaces and outdoor areas at a more leisurely pace.
The new complex also features a balance between design innovation and sustainability and includes urban “swamps” and meadows, along with a rooftop garden and on-site accommodation for visitors and employees in a series of “individual pods” that will blend in with the surrounding woodland area.
Of course, as an automotive factory, Rimac will include a customization showroom to allow customers to preview and specify their cars to their exact tastes on-site, plus a museum with a bar and merchandise shop.
As part of full site tours, visitors will also see cars being carefully pieced together through glass, although visitors will not be given access to the top-secret project rooms.
With a focus on employee wellbeing and learning, the Rimac complex will also feature a games room, gym and training center, restaurant, and even a kindergarten.
In keeping with its sustainability credentials, on-site organic food production has also been factored in, as has plenty of parkland for both employees and the public to enjoy and even the provision for farm animals on-site. Meeting the company’s desire for multi-functional and adaptable spaces, the site will also house an auditorium, conference hall, and education rooms.
With a plan for long-term growth, the site has also been designed so that it can be expanded over time while still blending in seamlessly with its natural surroundings. It will be able to accommodate over 2,500 employees and substantial production facilities, double today’s current headcount.
Hence, the site has been split into two distinct areas. The first being the HQ building, which will house central functions, management, and R&D, as well as Grey’s offices – the electric bike manufacturer also founded by Mate Rimac.
Linking this building to the next will be a large, glazed restaurant subtly built into the landscape with sweeping views on either side. At one end will be the retail space and kindergarten. At the other, the reception and showroom and museum.
On the opposite of its fork design will be its production and testing facilities, encompassing design, prototyping, and reverse engineering.
At the rear will be the entrance to the beating heart of the site, its production plant, which will house machining, components, and vehicle assembly, battery production, composites production, and paint shop.
The new €200 million Rimac Campus’s size and scale make it one of the most significant builds in Europe, with construction scheduled to begin later this year.
Lamborghini is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Countach with a special edition LPI 800-4 model debuting at this year’s Monterey Car Week.
In celebration of the Countach’s 50th anniversary, Lamborghini has unveiled a special limited edition Countach LPI 800-4 as a futuristic tribute to the poster car of the 1980s.
While sharing the same name and drawing on the visual legacy of its predecessor, the new Countach LPI 800-4 is powered by Lamborghini’s aspirated V12 engine combined with new hybrid supercapacitor technology initially developed for the Sian.
Delivering 802hp maximum combined power (rounded to 800 for the sake of its model name), the LPI 800-4 can reach 0-62mph acceleration in just 2.8 seconds and hit a top speed of 220mph.
“The Countach LPI 800-4 is a visionary car of the moment, just as its forerunner was,” says Automobili Lamborghini President and CEO Stephan Winkelmann. “One of the most important automotive icons, the Countach not only embodies the design and engineering tenet of Lamborghini but represents our philosophy of reinventing boundaries, achieving the unexpected and extraordinary and, most importantly, being the ‘stuff of dreams.
“The Countach LPI 800-4 pays homage to this Lamborghini legacy, but it is not retrospective: it imagines how the iconic Countach of the 70s and 80s might have evolved into an elite super sports model of this decade. It upholds the Lamborghini tradition of looking forward, of exploring new design and technology avenues while celebrating the DNA of our brand. It is a Lamborghini that innately expresses the marque’s enduring and emotive power: always inspirational and thrilling to see, hear and most of all drive.”
Inspired by the Countach’s distinctive silhouette, sharp angles, and wedge shape, the Countach LPI 800-4’s exterior inspiration was taken specifically from the Quattrovalvole edition in the bold lines of the front bonnet with long, low rectangular grille and headlights, as well as in the wheel arches with their hexagonal theme.
Unfortunately for fans of the Wolf of Wall Street Countach, there’s no fixed rear wing on the latest model. However, there are still air scoops integrated fluidly into the car’s shoulders and the distinctive Countach slatted “gills” and famous scissor doors.
The rear of the Countach LPI 800-4 still features a distinctive inverted wedge shape, with the rear bumper featuring a lower, sleeker line and the hexagonal rear light design similar to that of the Sián.
Lamborghini has revealed only 112 models of the new Countach LPI 800-4 will be produced (a number chosen in honor of the internal project name “LP 112” used for the original Countach development) with allocations already fulfilled prior to the public launch.
Porsche Motorsport celebrates 25 years partnership with Manthey-Racing and reveals the limited edition 911 GT2 RS Clubsport 25.
Porsche Motorsport is celebrating 25 years of collaboration with Manthey-Racing GmbH and has unveiled the limited edition 911 GT2 RS Clubsport 25 to commemorate.
Founded by racing driver Olaf Manthey in 1996, Manthey-Racing GmbH is responsible for running the Porsche 911 RSR of the factory squad in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and has made a name for itself in both the motor racing world and as a GT road car specialist.
The basic concept and technical ideas for the new special edition was provided by Manthey and based on the 911 GT2 RS Clubsport with Porsche providing the final design.
Developed specifically for track days and circuit racing, the Porsche 911 GT2 RS Clubsport 25 is powered by a 3.8-liter flat-six twin-turbo engine and produces 515 HP directed to the rear wheels through Porsche’s seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox (PDK).
Taking inspiration from Manthey’s 911 GT3 R, known as the “Grello” because of its distinctive green and yellow livery, the Porsche 911 GT2 RS Clubsport 25 sports a similar green and yellow color scheme to highlight functional areas of the vehicle and adopts many vehicle components and elements from future Porsche racing cars.
“The design of the 911 GT2 RS Clubsport 25 expresses the long-standing collaboration between Porsche Motorsport and Manthey,” emphasizes Grant Larson from Style Porsche. “It amalgamates the respective strengths of each partner into one racing car, and at the same time bridges the gap between the 991 and 992 model generations of the 911.”
The Porsche 911 GT2 RS Clubsport 25 is limited to 30 vehicles in total (only six are allocated for North America) with deliveries expected to begin in early 2022.
To order, customers will need to email 911GT2RSClubsport25@porsche.de directly and have a spare $620,00 on hand.
The new Pagani Huayra BC Pacchetto Tempesta is set to make its debut at this year’s Monterey Car Week and celebrates ten years of the Huayra supercar.
This year at Monterey Car Week, Pagani celebrates ten years of the Huayra with the world premiere of the new Pagani Huayra BC Pacchetto Tempesta.
Based on the Huayra BC, the new Pacchetto Tempesta package means the Huayra BC’s high-performance platform can be equipped with a range of “state-of-the-art technical and artisan solutions” to maximize the car’s racing abilities and achieve an 8% power increase to deliver 827 hp and 1,100 Nm torque.
Pagani has only teased several introductory images of the green carbon fiber bodied beauty ahead of the premiere, and although full details are yet to be shared, Pagani has noted that the Pacchetto Tempesta features a new front splitter, dedicated air intake, rear wing with an integrated central fin, and six-pipe exhaust system to maximize aerodynamic efficiency.
A tweaked suspension system and the addition of an all-new “Soft Driving mode” also ensure drivers are afforded maximum comfort in the aggressive Huayra BC Pacchetto Tempesta.
The Huayra BC Pacchetto Tempesta will make its debut at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering event on Friday 13th August at Monterey Car Week 2021 and will be seen alongside the Huayra R project and an up-close-and-personal look at the all-new Pagani V12-R engine, six-speed sequential gearbox.
While no prices have been revealed yet, the Pagani Huayra BC Pacchetto Tempesta will no double start above the $2.25 million price tag of the Huayra BC.