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Reuters, FRANKFURT, July 5 – Volkswagen’s (VOWG p.DE) premium sportscar business Porsche AG announced on Monday that it has reached an agreement with Croatia’s Rimac Automobili to form a joint venture (JV) that will incorporate VW’s Bugatti brand, confirming plans laid forth earlier this year. The Bugatti-Rimac venture, which will be established in the fourth quarter and based in Zagreb, will be 55 percent owned by Rimac and the remainder by Porsche AG. According to Porsche, Volkswagen will transfer Bugatti to the firm, and Rimac CEO Mate Rimac will also manage the JV. In March, Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess stated that Porsche would most likely form a joint venture with Rimac featuring Bugatti, with Porsche owning a minority part. find out more “We’re combining Bugatti’s great hypercar experience with Rimac’s tremendous innovative strength in the extremely promising sector of electric mobility,” stated Oliver Blume, CEO of Porsche AG and a member of the Volkswagen board of directors. Two hypercar models will be produced under the JV’s umbrella: the Bugatti Chiron and the all-electric Rimac Nevera. According to Porsche, all Bugatti models will continue to be produced at the company’s factory in Molsheim, France. Blume and Lutz Meschke, the finance chief of Porsche AG, will join the supervisory board of Bugatti-Rimac, which will employ roughly 430 people in Zagreb and Molsheim. Porsche AG increased its direct investment in Rimac to 24 percent earlier this year in a deal that valued the electric hypercar producer at 795 million euros ($943 million). Rimac is presently evaluating strategic options. Christoph Steitz contributed reporting ($1 = 0.8427 euros). The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles are our standards./nRead More

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