Rimac To Help Build Electric Sports Cars For Hyundai And Kia

In what may be one of the stranger unions to come out of this onslaught of partnerships aimed at bettering electric vehicle technology is one that the Hyundai Motor Group has just announced with Croatian hypercar manufacturer Rimac. It involves a recent €80 million euro ($89.88 million at today's rates) investment into Rimac by Kia and Hyundai to begin a technological partnership with the hope of speeding up the Korean manufacturers' presence in the EV market.

In case you need a refresher, Rimac is a small boutique car maker that specializes in building all-electric hypercars like the 1,224-horsepower Concept One and the1,914-horsepower C_Two. Given Rimac's experience with high-performance EVs, Hyundai and Kia could use its help to better its understanding of battery technology, build future electric performance cars, and possibly even learn how to create a better EV for the masses.

The new partners will first embark on a product development venture that will see two high-performance electric vehicles unveiled by 2020. While the Hyundai Motor Group has yet to give us an idea of how it plans to approach its electrification strategy, this move tells us that it will start by building a halo car for both Hyundai and Kia to bring attention to its EV lineup, since the Hyundai Kona EV and克钦独立军尼罗电动车don't quite qualify as halo cars.

According to a statement released by Rimac, one of those vehicles will come in the form of an all-electric sports carbranded under Hyundai's N performance wingwhile the other will be a high-performance fuel cell EV, likely to wear a Kia badge. "Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors and Rimac will work closely together to develop an electric version of Hyundai Motor's N brand midship sports car and a high-performance fuel cell electric vehicle."