Mate Rimac is a genius because he has created a car that can be a race machine, a grand tourer, and a top-speed monster at the flick of a button! Rimac Nevera has popped eyeballs with insane four-digit performance figures, but more so because it is an all-electric hypercar that can be used for your everyday commutes without a sweat. This wild Croatian is now back in the spotlight for taking another crown.
Nevera is now the world's fastest-production electric car by achieving 258 mph. The preparations were minimal and it even ran street-legal tires. Apart from that, it was all on the Nevera's clever powertrain to do its bit. And boy, did it blow everyone's perception, yet again! More interestingly, the Nevera hypercar was able to achieve the exact top speed that it quoted back in 2018.
The Nevera sure has a lot going for it. No wonder Porsche invested in it and the VW group was open to Mr. Rimac getting a hold of Bugatti, for the most anticipated automobile joint-venture of the the 21st century. The world's fastest production car continues to be the Koenigsegg Agera RS that achieved a top speed of 282.9 mph. But Rimac has opened up a whole new book of insanity for the EV world.
Rimac Nevera Stays True To Its Word And Hits 258 Mph
Rimac Nevera bagging a top speed record is news enough. But we would want to divert your attention to how confident they were with their claims, way back in 2018. When the Nevera was first showcased to the world as the C_Two Concept, many thought it to be a gimic. But putting all doubts to rest was the record-breaking run in which the Nevera hypercar achieved 258 mph with ease.
It sure shows us on how focused the humble Croatian automaker was, right from the start. This is the second "speed" related record that the Rimac Nevera has achieved with the first being the "world's quickest accelerating production car" tag which it achieved by doing a quarter-mile run in 8.582 seconds.
Rimac Nevera Did Its Record-Breaking Run In One Shot
Rimac chose the Automotive Testing Papenburg track in Germany to achieve the top speed feat because the Nevera needed a wider and less constrained track to maintain a higher average speed. And that was the only way to reach its full potential. Impressive is the fact that there were no major modifications done to the hypercar for the top speed run. Even the tires used were road-legal Michelin Cup 2Rs.
This record run is also quite different from what we have seen from other hypercars. The 267-MPH Bugatti Veyron Super Sport and the 277-MPH Koenigsegg Agera RS did their top speed runs by using a two-way average method which also took into consideration various environmental conditions. But Rimac calculated Nevera's top speed with a single run, just like how the 304-MPH Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+ did back in 2019.
The Nevera Was Chilled Out While Doing A Third Of The Speed Of Sound!
Taming this wild all-electric hypercar was Rimac's chief test and development driver - Miro Zrnčević. He has been testing this car from the very beginning and has seen and felt first-hand, on how the Nevera has evolved. Despite all the experience, he was still baffled with how the Nevera touched 258 mph. Miro was impressed on how stable and composed the Nevera was even when going at a third of the speed of sound!
He mentioned," To travel at 412kph, or 258mph, means travelling at a third of the speed of sound. Simply achieving that alone in a road car is incredibly complex, but in Nevera we have created a car that can travel long distances on a single charge, can tackle tight and twisting race tracks and can drift as well as break straight-line speed records, both for acceleration and V-MAX."
This Hypercar Left Chris Harris Awestruck And Nico Roseburg Craving For More
It wasn't just the general public at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show that had their doubts. Many automobile journalists also had their suspicion on the Rimac's bold claims. But they were awestruck when Rimac finally handed over the press vehicles.
Chris Harris of Top Gear in a podcast mentioned that the Rimac Nevera was unlike anything he had ever experienced. And trust us, that guy has driven a lot of sports cars, supercars, and hypercars. He also mentions, "The Nevera is so fast that the tenth time you do a full bore start, your body still goes: What's going on here?! Why Would that happen?!"
Equally stroked was Formula One icon and an internet celebrity - Nico Rosberg. He happens to be the first Rimac Nevera customer and got to do an exclusive drive with the main man - Mate Rimac. Nico clearly adores the car for its racecar appeal and, in the video, even managed to scare poor Mr. Rimac by pitching the idea of drifting! We are sure that Nico is going to have a blast on the racetrack with the Nevera.
Rimac Nevera Is A Grand Tourer With 1,914 Race-bred Horses
We knew all along that the Nevera was born for greatness! This all-electric hypercar churns out a mind-biggling 1,914 hp and 1,740 lb-ft of torque to all four wheels, thanks to a motor for each wheel. The outcome? 0-60 mph in 1.85 seconds, 0-100 mph in 4.3 seconds and finally, a top speed of 258 mph. It should be noted that the Nevera is limited to 219 mph for customers, but its record-run potential can be unleashed "in special customer events with the support from the Rimac team and under controlled conditions".
Sources: Rimac Automobili, Nico Rosberg Via YouTube, Top Gear Via YouTube