Porsche sells up to give Rimac control of Bugatti

End of an era as Porsche unloads minority stake to new investors, leaving Mate Rimac, 38, to lead Bugatti alone

By Matt Bird / Friday, 24 April 2026 / Loading comments

How different the world looked as recently as 2021. That was when Porsche and Rimac Group established Bugatti Rimac, with all parties hoping to benefit from each other in making the hypercars of the future. By 2023, there was the Mission X concept, a 1,500hp vision of what a new Porsche 918 Spyder could be. All seemed to be moving in the desired direction, right until it wasn’t: Mate Rimac suggested that his eponymous company wouldn’t make another EV, an all-new V16 was designed for Bugatti by Cosworth, and Porsche was reeling from diminished electric demand. So much so, it turns out, that it has now sold its entire stake in the Rimac venture, with the paperwork signed today.

It’s been on the cards for a little while, with rumours beginning to circulate last year that Mate Rimac wanted to buy Porsche out of their shares to leverage more control over the company. Doubtless the deal became a lot more appealing to Porsche off the back of its financial results. Because let’s not forget just how invested Stuttgart was in Rimac: the 2021 deal saw Porsche acquire 45 per cent of the then-newly-formed Bugatti Rimac, alongside 20.6 per cent of the parent Rimac Group.

While the amount of money involved in the transaction hasn't been published, Porsche has fully divested its equity stakes to a consortium led by HOF Capital. Michael Leiters, Porsche's CEO, has suggested that the sale will allow the company to “focus on the core business”. Which at the moment is surely about making combustion-powered sports cars. He added: “As an early-stage investor of Rimac Group, Porsche made a significant contribution to developing Rimac Technology into an established Tier-1 automotive technology company… We would like to thank Mate Rimac and his team for the constructive and trusting cooperation over the past years.”

In broader historical terms, the deal is significant as it sees the end of VW's involvement in Bugatti, for the first time since it bought the company back in 1998. What a journey it’s been since then, from slightly strange motor show concepts at the end of the 20th century to Bugatti’s return as maker of some of the fastest, most valuable, and most desirable cars on the planet. None of that would've happened without VW's expertise and input, and certainly not without Ferdinand Karl Piëch either.

A Bugatti seperated from its parent company feels like a big step, though in truth the brand as operated as seperate entity for most of its existence, and is already fused at the hip with Rimac in terms of future product. On the strength of the Tourbillon - not to mention Mate Rimac's insistence that petrol engines will remain a core part of its identity - the futue of the venerable firm could hardly be in safer hands.

The main man said of the deal: “Porsche has been a crucial partner, and we are deeply grateful for their role in establishing Bugatti Rimac. With the strong foundations their support has provided, we now have a structure that allows us to execute even faster on our long-term vision.” Completion of the deal is expected before the end of this year, leaving HOF Capital as the largest shareholder of Rimac Group alongside Mate Rimac. Given the extraordinary progress made by his company in recent years, don’t be surprised if there’s another seismic Rimac announcement in the near future.