As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 23rd of July, 2020, Rimac Automobili has appointed Chris Porritt, former chief engineer at Aston Martin, vice president of engineering at Tesla and head of Apple’s special projects group, and chief technology officer (CTO). Chris will report directly to founder and CEO Mate Rimac, with a focus on future projects within the company.
Over a career spanning more than three decades, Chris has overseen the development of a range of sports and electric vehicles. During his sixteen years at Aston Martin, he was chief engineer for the limited production of the One-77 and V12 Vantage Zagato hypercars. In 2013, Porritt moved to California where he became vice president of engineering at Tesla, and then moved to Apple where he had a leading role in a group for special projects to develop new products. In addition to his professional career, Chris spends his weekends and free time constructing and racing his own vintage race cars. His experience in the development of luxury supercars at Aston Martin, and electric cars at Tesla that have reshaped the entire industry and enthusiasm for race cars make him the perfect addition to Mate Rimac’s talented team.
Mate Rimac, founder and CEO of Rimac Automobile, stated: ”We’ve started a journey in a country that isn’t known for car development. We learned a lot through trial and error as it was difficult to attract people from other countries, which made the whole process challenging but also exciting. I can’t imagine what our journey would be like and how far we’d have come by now if we had Chris from the very beginning. I was worried that people with a lot of experience in the industry wouldn’t suit our culture and company spirit. However, as an absolute car lover, who likes to get involved in creating new projects, Chris fit in right from the start. We share the same way of thinking: we want to develop cars that raise the bar, and that are fun and high quality. I can’t wait for the results we’ll achieve together.”
Chris Porritt, Chief Technology Officer of Rimac Automobiles, stated: ”The opportunity to join Rimac Automobili is the dream of every engineer. Since almost every key component is constructed and designed at Rimac itself, we have real freedom to create something that is completely different from anything else previously developed in the world of super sports cars. Rimac is the perfect place to make good use of my combined experience gained in the development of supercars working for Aston Martin and with electric cars in California. What the team has achieved so far with the development of the C_Two car is phenomenal and I look forward to helping them develop future products that will push the boundaries.”
This year is a key period for the presentation of the latest all-electric Rimac car, codenamed C_Two, as prototypes are continuously constructed, used and tested for the purpose of global homologation. Starting in 2021, 150 examples of Mate Rimac’s brand new car will be constructed manually on the new production line in Veliko Trgovišće. All of the major systems and components for the C_Two were developed and built within Rimac Automobili itself.
Mate Rimac’s C_Two will reach a speed of 0-100 km/h in less than just two seconds and a top speed of 258 mp/h in its final production form. These values were achieved by developing the original C_Two concept and then with later prototypes. In parallel with the development of the C_Two car, Rimac Automobili’s business continued to grow, as evidenced by the increase in Porsche’s ownership stake in the business to 15.5 percent, while the Hyundai Motor Group invested 80 million euros in the business. The latter announcements join a long list of Mate Rimac’s earlier partners, including Koenigsegg, Automobile Pininfarina and Aston Martin.
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