Rimac CEO rules out SUVs, says brand will stay focused on supercars

It sometimes seems as if the entire automotive world is consigned to a future of nothing but high-riding sport utility vehicles, even among brands known for high-end sports cars. Porsche long ago gave into the craze with the Cayenne, Lamborghini has given us the Urus, we just saw Aston Martin unveil the DBX, and Ferrari has its own plans for a lifted performance family hauler. But Croatian electric vehicle maker Rimac Automobili is signaling that it’s not going down that road.

CEO and founder Mate Rimac spoke with Top Gear about plans for future models, telling the site, “We ourselves? No. We will not do a performance SUV. For sure.” He told the site he understood why automakers like Aston give in to the SUV craze, but insists Rimac will remain focused on two-seat supercars with innovative features in areas of aerodynamics and weight. “But I don’t want to make SUVs or stuff like that,” he added for good measure.

For now, Rimac has been working on homologating the C_Two, a limited-edition, 1,914-horsepower battery-electric supercar that it unveiled in 2018 in Geneva. It’s powered by four electric motors that draw from a 120-kilowatt-hour battery pack, boasts a range of 404 miles on the generous NEDC cycle, a top speed of 258 mph and adds 1,969 pound-feet of torque to the mix.

Production is set to start next year, capped at 150 examples, which have long been sold out at a base price of around $2.1 million. We’ll reportedly see the production version in March at the Geneva Motor Show.