Who would have thought that the electric car craze might create a very expensive problem — and not just for the drivers and their bank accounts? Some of those hold-your-breath expensive, limited-edition electric hypercars aren’t exactly flying off the showroom floors. The Rimac Nevera is a perfect example of this situation. This Croatian automotive masterpiece, with nearly 1,900 horsepower on tap, may be fast enough to out-drag a jet plane. Yet, somehow, it’s not setting the sales charts on fire.
Company founder and CEO Mate Rimac admitted that his initial plans of selling 150 units of the $2 million electric rocketship aren’t going too well. While the production of such a bespoke vehicle takes time, and Rimac never intended for the Nevera to sell like hotcakes, the reality is somewhat of a flop. Only 50 vehicles have been spoken for, questioning the future of the fastest production EV in the world.
Rimac Nevera Is Like A $2 Million Apple Watch
Rimac has put the blame squarely at the rich folks’ doorstep. We must remember that Nevera’s development started in 2016, and in the EV world, ten years feels like a century. Sure, there is no comparable car out there – if you ignore Nevera’s twin, Pininfarina Battista – but the customers have changed. A few years ago, only the richest could have had ridiculously fast electric cars; now we have the Tesla Model S Plaid and Lucid Air Sapphire, which will give any super or hypercar a good run for its money.
Hypercar aficionados no longer see the Nevera as sufficiently standing out of the crowd. In the world that is transitioning to electric power, the rich and famous are balking the trend and craving for the raw, analog driving experience. The silent, emissions-free beasts like Nevera are simply no longer attractive. Mate Rimac went as far as comparing the Nevera to the Apple Watch. He said that while the Watch is smarter and can do a million things at once (not really), nobody will ever pay $200,000 for it. But when it comes to mechanical watches, the sky’s the limit.
Robotaxis And Batteries – The Future Of Rimac
The absolutely bonkers Rimac Nevera will go down in history as the fastest electric car humanity could make in the early 21st century. This beast packs four electric motors churning out 1,888 horsepower in unison. Coupled with a 120 kWh battery pack, the Nevera is as much of a track weapon as it is a cross-state road trip partner. Courtesy of its reality-bending 1,741 pound-feet of torque, it can outrun a Formula 1 car and holds a long list of Guinness world records. At a $2 million starting price, though, it became a tough sell, even for the hardened EV fans.
It’s not all bad news; Rimac-owned Bugatti is sticking to dinosaur juice for the foreseeable future. The upcoming Chiron replacement will be guzzling gas by the gallons, with a sweet accompaniment of the internal combustion song and a side of a turbo whistle. Interestingly, Rimac is getting ready to unveil its Robotaxi project, which sounds very familiar – it almost looks like there’s a trend developing here. On top of that, the company just signed a contract with BMW to supply batteries for future Neue Klasse models.
Nevera may not sell as quickly as Rimac hoped, but that hardly makes it a flop. Just like the Rimac Concept One, the two cars created by the company were nothing short of technological masterpieces, a celebration of future technology. There’s no doubt we will always be nostalgic about the visceral experience of the internal combustion engine – there’s nothing like it. But the future, whether we like it or not, is powered by electrons.