Guys, and Cars (Electric Cars)
See this car? Believe it or not, Mate Rimac (pictured) designed it at 21. Yeah, 21. And this slick cherry-red vehicle, the Concept One, goes from zero to sixty in three seconds. But why electric cars?
“It wasn’t about making the cars environmentally friendly, the performance is just much better.” -Mate Rimac
After years of testing a converted 1984 E30 BMW, he hit some spots of success. He began to work with his team on the Concept One, after being approached by a Croatian businessman on behalf of Abu Dhabi’s royal family. They wanted two cars, and so he set to work.
Hobby to Business
Rimac loved working on cars, but the passion quickly turned into something for which people sought him out. Today Rimac Automobili employs 22 workers. The company is small but it has certainly grown through trial and success. Early on, Rimac depended on seed money from his father–a shopping-center developer–and Abu Dhabi’s promise to invest. When the vehicle debuted in Germany, the industry was shocked. All of a sudden Rimac Automobili was offering quality super-cars that made BMW and Tesla scratch their heads and take a breather. Rimac had come out of nowhere, and he wasn’t going to be easy to catch up to in his fancy Concept One.
I am a fan of cars, especially sports cars, so this was very interesting to me. I don’t think I have seen anybody trying to do anything like this and the way he got his funding and investments and the fact that he engineered the car when he is so young is very impressive. The fact that it is electric and a sports car is really one of the coolest things I have seen in the car industry in a while. I think this is great.
It is great how in this case you are able to see a person’s passion turn into an entrepreneurial endeavor. The unique product and value proposition will surely gain even more recognition and success in the future.
This is awesome! I cannot believe he is 21! Cars are always in demand and people always want to one up each other and have the coolest new toy. I am so impressed it is electric as well. Most electric cars do not look that “manly”.
As little as I like to admit it, the market for electric cars does appear to be a growing one, and although I’m not fully convinced that electric cars will ever be a mainstream vehicle, I think that cashing in on the short term craze that seems to be surrounding them right now is definitely a good idea! The car looks good- REALLY good and I can see why Tesla might be surprised by this unexpected competitor. Getting into the car market as a manufacturer nowadays is nearly impossible, so I certainly commend him for his ability to stay alive thus far- if he can manage to get bought out be Tesla in the coming years, then I think he will be able to call this an astounding success, short of that though, he will certainly have a hard time keeping his small, niche business afloat in a market with so many other well established players. I love the idea, and the styling looks amazing so it will certainly be interesting to keep an eye on Rimac to see what happens.
The fact that he made his car electric because it preforms better and not because it is “eco-friendly” is quite interesting. This could prove to be a shift in the automobile industry. His car is so much better than previous electric cars it makes you wonder what he figured out that they couldn’t. It is also really cool that the royal family asked him to create two cars just for them.