Rimac's slow-selling Nevera R is the world's fastest production EV
'Breaking records is in our DNA, and we won't stop here,' Mate Rimac, founder and president of Rimac Group, and chief executive officer of Bugatti Rimac and Rimac Technology, said in a press statement. The 'R' stands for radical, relentless and rebellious, Rimac said when he introduced the €2.3 million ($2.7 million) electric hypercar during Monterey Car Week last year.
But in the elite echelons of extreme speed, many records come down to technicalities and semantics.
Rimac's mark beat the Nevera R's previous top speed of 256 mph, but it did not surpass the 273 mph achieved by an Aspark Owl SP600 in 2024, which earned Guinness World Records certification as 'the fastest battery-powered electric prototype hypercar in the world.' The 'prototype' distinction is important: 40 units of the Nevera R will be produced, with customer deliveries beginning later this year, while the Aspark Owl SP600 used for the top-speed run was a prototype.
'We believe that's a meaningful distinction for customers: You're not just buying a one-off prototype, but a record-breaking car you can actually drive on the road,' says Marta Longin, a Rimac spokesperson. Representatives for Aspark did not respond to a request for comment.
Rimac used a high-precision data acquisition system from Dewesoft to measure the run. Officials from Guinness World Records were not on-site, Longin says, citing its laborious certification structure.
'It requires unusual event formats like simultaneous runs with over 10 competitive cars, which is more relevant to consumer stunts and show events,' she says. Rimac used Guinness to certify its 171-mph top speed in reverse record in 2023.
The Nevera R's new top speed is one of 24 benchmarks set by the 2,107-horsepower car July 5-8. Among them was an improved zero-60 mph sprint time of 1.66 seconds, beating the Nevera's previous 1.74-second sprint time and a zero-400-zero kmh (zero-249-zero mph) time of 25.79 seconds—a full 2.04 seconds quicker than the 27.83 seconds achieved by the Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut in 2024. Cars powered by internal combustion still have the upper hand in speed runs. In 2019, a Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+ hit 304 mph; Koenigsegg and SSC Tuatara both make gasoline-powered cars with higher top speeds than the Nevera.
The news comes as Rimac is facing continued disappointing sales of its electric hypercar, which has caused tension among its investors. Porsche owns around 20% of Rimac Group, which in turn owns 55% of Bugatti Rimac and all of the battery maker Rimac Technology. (Rimac Group's other investors include Hyundai Motor, Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Softbank Vision Fund 2.)
The German automaker has been unhappy with the partnership because of poor Nevera sales and Bugatti Rimac revenue that plunged 46% last year to €182 million, according to Porsche's annual report. Rimac Group has explored buying Porsche's stake in Bugatti Rimac, valuing the business at more than €1 billion, according to Bloomberg reporting.
In May 2024, Mate Rimac said just 50 out of a planned total of 150 Neveras had been delivered (Longin declined to comment on a more recent tally for this story); later that summer, in an interview with Bloomberg, he credited the low demand to buyers' appetite for combustion-powered supercars.
The company has since announced pivots to its hypercar plan, saying it will make a two-seat autonomous taxi and noting it's not forever married to electric-only propulsion.
'We are thinking of whatever exciting technology is out there, whatever ideas we can come up with,' Rimac said. 'Not just batteries—we are looking to all kinds of stuff for the future of the brand.' –BLOOMBERG
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Rimac's slow-selling Nevera R is the world's fastest production EV
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