Rimac Decided Its World-Record Hypercar Was a Bit Sluggish
Image Credit: Rimac Automobili.
Honestly, you try to keep up, you really do. I was just getting comfortable with the idea of the Rimac Nevera. You know, the "standard" one. The all-electric Croatian hypercar that, back in 2023, showed up to a test track in Germany and casually snagged 23 world records in a single day. A record for breaking records. It seemed, for all intents and purposes, like the final word in electric performance. The pinnacle. The top of the mountain.
Apparently, the folks at Rimac looked at the top of their mountain, shrugged, and said, "Needs to be higher." And probably, "Needs to be faster." It's the only explanation for their latest creation, the Nevera R. The "R," I can only assume, stands for "Ridiculous." Or maybe "Right, the last one was a bit of a tortoise."
Image Credit: Rimac Automobili.
For sixteen years, this company has been obsessing over electric power. The original Nevera was the culmination of that obsession. It could do 0 to 249 miles per hour and back to a dead stop in under 30 seconds. A feat so ludicrous it changed my understanding of physics. I thought, "Well, that's it then. Job done. Let's all go to the pub." But no.
While the Nevera was holding its title, a pesky gasoline-powered Swede, the Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut, nipped in and stole its 0-249-0 mph crown. You can just imagine the silence in the Rimac engineering department, followed by a collective sigh and the sound of someone reluctantly pulling the dust covers off the "Go Even Faster" blueprints.
Image Credit: Rimac Automobili.
And go faster they did. With the Nevera R, they didn't just reclaim the throne; they smashed it into tiny, carbon-fiber pieces. The new time for that 0-249-0 mph benchmark is 25.79 seconds. That's not just beating the Koenigsegg; it's nearly four and a half seconds faster than their own previous record. In the world of hypercars, four seconds is an eternity. It's enough time to have a sip of tea and question all your choices - the good ones, and the bad.
But Rimac didn't stop there, of course not. That would be too sensible. The Nevera R went on to break all 23 of the original car's records and added a new one for good measure. Let's talk about some of these numbers. Zero to 60 mph now happens in 1.66 seconds. That's not acceleration; that's teleportation with a slight delay. By the time you've processed the fact that you're moving, you're already breaking the speed limit.
Image Credit: Rimac Automobili.
It gets more absurd. Zero to 100 mph takes 2.96 seconds. The quarter-mile, that classic American test of straight-line grunt, is dispatched in 7.90 seconds. Most sports cars are still figuring out which gear they want to be in by then. The Nevera R is already back in the garage, plugged in and quietly judging them. This isn't just fast for an electric car; this is fast for anything. It's faster than gravity, I think.
And then there's the big one. Top speed. The Nevera R was clocked at 268.2 mph, making it the fastest production EV on the planet. A silent, battery-powered missile streaking down the tarmac at a speed usually reserved for small aircraft. Where on God's green earth are you supposed to use that? The mind boggles. It is, and I say this with the utmost respect, gloriously pointless. And of course, I absolutely love it.
Image Credit: Rimac Automobili.
The most charmingly bonkers part of this whole story comes from the company's founder, Mate Rimac. He insists that despite its ability to rearrange your internal organs, the Nevera R is still a "real, usable daily car." A daily! Can you imagine? "Sorry, I'm late for the meeting, I accidentally accelerated to 200 mph on the way to Starbucks. The G-force made me spill my latte."
Now, for the price of entry into this exclusive club of physics-deniers. The Rimac Nevera R will set you back €2.3 million, which translates to roughly $2.7 million. And even if you have that kind of change rattling around in your sofa, you'd better be quick. They're only making 40 of them.
This isn't just a car; it's an instant legend, a collector's item before the first one has even been delivered. It's a stunning piece of engineering that proves the electric future is completely, wonderfully, and beautifully unhinged. What's next, a time-travel package?
