Hyundai has invested 16 million euros into electric vehicle maker Rimac and formed a technical collaboration with the Croatian company.
Together, Hyundai and Rimac will develop two new electric vehicles: an electric version of the Hyundai N brand midship concept and a new high-performance fuel cell electric vehicle.
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The South Korean automaker says this partnership will allow Hyundai “to speed up its transition towards Clean Mobility and position itself as a global leader in driving this change in the industry.”
N 2025 Vision Gran Turismo
Hyundai has been interested in high-performance hydrogen fuel cell powertrains since before 2015, when it debuted the N 2025 Vision Gran Turismo concept, which was essentially a futuristic Le Mans prototype with a hydrogen electric powertrain. At the time, the automaker said it offered “a peek at the brand’s next-generation high-performance vehicles.”
The Hyundai midship concept, meanwhile, was introduced as a gas-powered mid-engine hatchback back in 2014 and has gone through several stages of development. A prototype for the vehicle was even once filmed putting in laps at the Nurburgring. It seems that instead of making the production version of the concept a mid-engine car, Hyundai has elected to drop an electric powertrain in the Veloster-inspired vehicle’s body.
Rimac, of course, are the high-performance electric vehicle experts responsible for the near-2,000 horsepower Rimac C_Two and its successor, the Rimac Concept One. Their talents should go a long way as Hyundai works to bring an electric vehicle to market that is both fun to drive and can compete with the quicker Teslas of the world.
Hyundai also wants to position itself as a major supplier of electric vehicle components going forward and sees Rimac as an important piece of this puzzle.
“We see a strong investor and technology partner in Hyundai Motor Group and believe that this collaboration will charge the company’s position as a Tier-1 electrification components supplier to the industry,” said Rimac founder and CEO Mate Rimac.