It arguably feels like a very long ago when Hyundai, along with corporate cousin Kia, invested in Croatian electric vehicle startup Rimac. That's probably because it was pre-pandemic.
The South Korean automakers jointly put up some $84 million to take a 12 percent stake in Rimac at the time. There were reports stating that the partnership could result in a game-changing electric sports car of the future, as well as a fuel-cell vehicle.
However, according to Automotive News, anonymous sources familiar with the matter suggest Hyundai is now cutting ties, though, at the time of writing, the automaker hadn't replied to a request for comment.
As you may know, Rimac has more recently expanded its relationship with Porsche. Reportedly, Hyundai doesn't want to continue a partnership if Rimac will also be involved with the German sports car maker. Porsche significantly upped its investment in Rimac last year, taking a 24 percent stake, which previously stood at 10 percent.
More specifically, Rimac officially entered into a 55-45 joint venture with Porsche. The goal is to take over Bugatti, which also lives under the Volkswagen Group umbrella.
It's important to reiterate here that all of the information obtained by Automotive News about Hyundai came from various unnamed sources, and some details were only substantiated by a single individual with information on the situation. Nevertheless, one source shared that Hyundai does plan to complete its electric sports car project in cooperation with Rimac. If all goes as planned, it could arrive near the beginning of 2023.
Automotive News Europe reached out to Rimac, and a company spokesperson shared the following statement:
"We have two active high-level projects ongoing [with Hyundai], one completed and several future projects under discussion."
There's no way to know for sure exactly which projects the Rimac spokesperson was referring to. However, it seems the "completed" project could be the electric sports car. Meanwhile, sources told Automotive News that the fuel-cell project is no longer in the cards. Hyundai previously showed off the potential fuel-cell concept as the Vision FK.
Perhaps the most interesting detail from the recent report is that Rimac has insisted its partnership with Porsche didn't cause an issue with Hyundai. The Croatian startup's spokesperson explained:
"Hyundai has been supportive in the transformation of the company during the last 12 months -- including the carve-out of Rimac Technology and joining forces with Bugatti under the new company Bugatti Rimac."
With that said, company founder Mate Rimac had already made it known that upcoming partnerships and growth could impact shareholder relationships. He told Bloomberg that the stakes are "getting bigger," but that his style wasn't to "play it safe." Regardless of the investments from Porsche and Hyundai, Mate was fair to say that Rimac still isn't yet out of the woods as companies go.
