Rimac: “I was fighting with Porsche and VW that next Bugatti shouldn’t be electric”

The next Bugatti will feature a brand new combustion engine, but the path to clearing it wasn’t straightforward.

Speaking to TopGear.com, Bugatti – and Rimac – boss Mate Rimac said when he started to discuss the takeover of Bugatti, he took over, both Porsche and Volkswagen stressed the need for the next car to be fully electric.

“That would have been the easiest thing for me, to take the Nevera, which we have developed for five years, and just rebadge it into a Bugatti,” he said. “You know, change the design… that’s the easiest thing to do.

“But I was fighting furiously with the management of Porsche and Volkswagen, really heated arguments, that the next Bugatti shouldn’t be electric. And I think that was absolutely the right decision.”

He noted at the distinction between the two brands, with Rimac on one side as the fully electric hypercar brand, while Bugatti “for the foreseeable future” will have combustion engines with strong hybridisation.

“We think it’s important to still have a combustion engine [for Bugatti],” he added. “You’ll be very surprised by what kind of combustion engine,” he teased.

For the full interview, listen to the new Top Gear Podcast below, where Rimac also discusses the Bugatti Bolide (pictured above) and why he’s buying a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren…