In Kerestinec, a little further from the lake, and across from the business complex where the largest companies Stanić and Rotoplast are located, just behind the castle, everything is literally covered in dust. We are also enveloped in clouds of dust raised by many trucks on their way to the largest industrial construction site in Croatia.
As the dust settles, and as the first examples of Nevera emerge from the Jankomir plant, the first outlines of the future campus can already be seen from the surrounding elevation. Just a few kilometers away from the current headquarters of Rimac Automobili, in a complex of 200 thousand square meters, half of which will be built, around 2500 people will work. Why here?
– Perhaps a better question is how we decided on Croatia – they respond from the company that had multiple offers from other countries for the campus location and add that Croatia is home to Mate Rimac and a place where, despite all forecasts, Rimac Group has been intensively operating and growing since its inception, thus wanting to prove Croatia’s potential as a destination for startups and further improve the positive entrepreneurial climate alongside other companies.
Kerestinec as a location is part of Mate Rimac’s early vision. At one point, in the early days of the company, when a few dozen people were employed, he passed by on a bicycle and thought it would be a great location for small production and offices: not far from the capital, and near the forest. A decade later, the plans in realization far exceed the original vision, but it is evident that the complex is the result of long-term contemplation.
The new complex with two separate buildings for research and development and for production will be situated in a natural environment and will contain many innovative elements, including a facility for testing and producing batteries, a hypercar production line, rooms for monitoring and tracking large amounts of data, a museum, educational spaces, relaxation areas for employees, a kindergarten, sports halls, and playgrounds; it will even have domestic animals.
This will be the headquarters of Rimac Technology and Bugatti Rimac, as well as a base for research, development, and production, allowing the company to grow from producing prototypes and projects in smaller series to large-scale production of high-performance electric drive units and battery systems for many global automotive companies. In Rimac Group, they confirm our impression that the works are in full swing and progressing rapidly, with the completion of the first phase of construction expected as early as next year.
By the way, expectations and development are key determinants of the current phase of this story. Rimac Group (formerly Rimac Automobili) reported a loss of about half a billion kuna last year. The company explains that this is without the results of foreign companies from the group, including Bugatti, and that they are financing the investment in the campus, worth more than one and a half billion kuna, completely independently, without loans:
