German car manufacturer Porsche announced Wednesday it has purchased a 10 percent minority stake in Rimac Automobili, a Croatian manufacturer specializing in electric sports cars and electric car parts.
The investment is the latest move by Porsche towards an increased focus on the electric car market. Porsche, which has its North American headquarters located in Atlanta, unveiled its first-ever electric model, the Taycan, on June 8 and announced billions of dollars of investment in electric vehicles.
“We feel that Rimac’s ideas and approaches are extremely promising, which is why we hope to enter into close collaboration with the company in the form of a development partnership,” Lutz Meschke, Deputy Chairman of Porsche’s Executive Board, said in a statement released by Porsche.
Rimac's most recent model, the C Two, was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March. According to a press release from Porsche, the all-electric vehicle produces 2,000 horsepower and possesses a range of about 400 miles, well beyond the 2017 U.S. median range of 114 miles.
The company, which employs around 400 workers, also manufacturers battery systems for electric vehicles.
In addition to investing in Rimac, Porsche is investing $7 billion by 2022 into expanding its own presence in the electric car industry. Porsche will begin production of the Taycan next year and also plans to increase its research and development efforts for electric and hybrid vehicles.
The move is expected to create 1,200 jobs for Porsche, but the company said all of those jobs are expected to be at its German headquarters, not in Atlanta.
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