The new Rimac Nevera R has officially become the world's fastest electric car, clocking a top speed of 268.2mph.
That means the more hardcore version of Rimac's EV hypercar is also one of the world's fastest production cars of all time - surpassing even the Bugatti Veyron Supersport.
The independently verified top speed was confirmed as part of a final round of validation tests ahead of customer deliveries getting under way - during which, Rimac says, the 2078bhp Nevera R claimed "new world records in 24 categories".
Surpassing "every performance record previously set by the standard Nevera", the R also proved itself the world's fastest-accelerating production car, sprinting from 0-60mph in a dazzling 1.66sec - 0.08sec quicker than the standard car.
The R also achieved a record 0-400-0kmh (0-249-0mph) time of just 25.79sec – just over two seconds quicker than the previous fastest car – and completed a quarter-mile sprint in 7.9sec, a 0.35sec improvement.
Company founder and CEO Mate Rimac said: “When we first introduced Nevera, it almost seemed like the pinnacle of hypercar performance had been reached. In a single generation, we had created a performance jump that previously would have taken decades.
"But now, through relentless innovation, Nevera R goes even faster, while still maintaining much of the comfort and practicality that makes the Nevera a real, usable daily car. Breaking records is in our DNA, and we won’t stop here.”
While Rimac remains committed to breaking boundaries for outright performance, it is possible that the company's next car may not be fully electric.
In May last year, Rimac had not yet sold all 150 examples of the standard Nevera, and Mate Rimac suggested that "the narrative" around electric cars had changed, and buyers were becoming "a little bit repulsed" by the "forced application" of EV propulsion.
He said that Nevera development began in 2016 on the assumption that "electric cars would be cool in a few years", but instead appetite for ultra-high-end EVs was waning in favour of more traditional, analogue alternatives.
"An Apple Watch can do everything better. It can do 1000 more things; it's a lot more precise; it can measure your heart rate. But nobody would pay $200,000 for an Apple Watch," he said, adding that Rimac could branch out from EVs in a bid to tap into that demand.
"Rimac isn’t exclusively electric. It’s doing whatever is most exciting at the time,” he said.
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Does anybody really care about cars like this? Yes, it can go stupidly fast but unless you own your own private race track you will never be able to explore the car's limits. The sort of buyer who could afford this car would be more interested in a hypercar with a combustion engine.
Owners do have access to private race tracks.
At least the huge cost of cars like this, means they not going to be bought by the kind of idiots, that used to known as boy-racers.
The thing is, great however much this car is for what it can do, it's not selling because potential customers are still wanting,sorry, reluctant to give up ICE cars, and do hyper Ev's give you the same Face wide grin as when your interacting with an ICE Hypercar?, I think through time you'd get bored with Ev's, 186mph in under 9 seconds? a great achievement no question,but it's too easy,and once you've done it a few times, Matey Rimac, seems to be a genius,has a great team of People working for him, wonder if he's thinking about transport for the masses?