LIMITED DEMAND FOR RIMAC’S ELECTRIC HYPERCAR
Rimac hasn’t sold all 150 examples of its Nevera electric hypercar and any replacement is unlikely to be an EV.
The Nevera was revealed in 2021 as an 1888bhp evolution of the C_two concept, with deliveries starting that year and a build run of 150 units planned.
However, the firm has yet to sell all of them, which CEO Mate Rimac has attributed to a decline in demand for ultra-high-end EVS.
“We started to develop Nevera in 2016/2017, when electric was cool,” he told the Financial Times Future of the Car conference in London. Since then, he said, the market has evolved, with tastes changing as legislators and established car makers seek to make EVS the mainstream.
He said: “The regulators and some OEMS push it so much that the narrative has changed. They’re pushing stuff on us that we don’t want, so people get a little bit repulsed by it. I’m always against it. I think everything has to be based on merit.”
Rimac said that when the Nevera was being developed, “we were thinking electric cars would be cool in a few years – the best cars, or with the highest performance and so on. We notice [now] that as electrification is becoming mainstream, people at the top end of the sector want to differentiate themselves.”
He likened this to highend analogue watches commanding high premiums over more capable and popular smartwatches, saying: “An Apple Watch can do everything better. But nobody would pay $200,000 for an Apple Watch.”
He suggested there are no plans to take the Nevera out of production earlier than planned. “We do have a market for the Nevera and it is the best-sold electric hypercar,” he said. “We have already delivered more than 50 cars out of a total of 150.
“I think there is a niche to do things you cannot do with a combustion engine. It’s not about being electric: it’s about doing things that other cars can’t do and giving a unique experience.”