Ten years ago Helmsman Rimac had no idea that the newly formed company that bore his name would eventually supply Porsche and Hyundai and become synonymous with yet another Richard Hammond crash, or growing so fast that it would have to build a new $ 238 million campus for 2,500 employees outside Croatia’s capital, Zagreb. Rimac has gone from struggling to pay workers into a shining example of the new Croatian industry, and now plans to build a factory that matches its reputation.
Full disclosure: Rimac invited me to join a Teams call to talk about the new HQ project last week. Some quotes in this interview have been edited for clarity. Mate Rimac seemed to be a very neat man.)
Mate Rimac, now aware that his company represents a significant portion of his country’s future economy, carefully explained in a video call last week the approach to building a new headquarters. The new headquarters can’t just be an obnoxious bar with a logo in one corner.
“We work day and night. We work very hard. I want people to be able to use every little moment they have between meetings or when they need to take a breath or something else to enjoy their time. In order not to get crazy by being in the office all day. I think spending time in nature is the right thing to do, ‘Rimac said over the phone.
This means that there will be a fairly traditional factory for painting and mounting Rimac’s electric battery packs and supercars. But the company has also planned a lot more for the space.
For the young director, the new joint had to be a place for employees and their families to actually use and interact with, rather than a place to be seen and admired from afar, or a building that needed to be a product in its own right seen. .
“McLaren, for example, I have a lot of respect for the company and they have a great campus. But it is designed in such a way that people don’t make a mess, ”added Rimac,“ We really want to design something around the people, give them the best place to work and [Architects 3LHD] understood everything in terms of requirements and so on. They were not trying to make a monument for themselves, but actually something that works for the company. And it looked beautiful. I think it was absolutely the right choice. “
When it came to design, Croatian architectural firm 3LHD got the job, but it wasn’t an easy ride for the local guys. Rimac assembled a huge team to ensure that whoever got the best job would be right for the project and the environment.
“We did an international competition. There really were some of the best architects in the world, I would say. I didn’t think of the big world that some Croatian would be the best. But we made it quite professional. We had a jury. Marta was one of the judges. But we also had a jury of independent members, such as builders, to say how feasible or expensive to build it. We had people from the city. “
“We’re trying to do something bigger here, not just to build our business. But I also try to be patriotic all the time and attract other companies to come here. Unfortunately, there are very, very few foreign investments that have nothing to do with tourism. “
The renderings make the new headquarters seem like some otherworldly utopian composition, like something pulled out of a Mass Effect game. A few features are worth mentioning specifically: To begin with, the corporate test track will be publicly accessible, according to the Rimac: “There is [test] track. Perhaps one important thing is that it is fully integrated with nature and open to the public. It will probably be the only automotive R&D facility without a fence, because we as a company are very, very open. “
Incidentally, that track has a special bend: “One of these bends is called the compulsory drift corner. So when you go through it you have to drift. YOU can not go through it normally. ”
Rimac will also try to keep live sheep and geese on campus as well, as the architectural firm has apparently determined that they are well suited for living in ‘nature’. This unfenced thing can get out of hand.
Human guests visiting for an evening will be accommodated in one of the guest rooms on site. Except that it’s not really a room, but more of an apartment in the woods. “It’s like glamping, let’s say,” Rimac jokes. Although probably not the kind of glamping that uses a chemical toilet in a thatched shed.
While the animals may not be welcome indoors, worker spawn is more than welcome in kindergarten.
Rimac does not intend to leave the new location when more space is needed. He said that as the need arises, more standard, boxy sites will be built for battery and powertrain manufacturing, but the new campus will be home to the company. Much of Rimac’s appeal was about the importance of supporting the local and national community.
Apart from hotels, tourism and hospitality, there is not much industry in Croatia. Rimac hopes the new facility will draw more business and attention to the country and help the country’s PR.
The proposed Rimac factory, and the current one, is a big problem: “When there is a foreign visit, some sort of high-level state visit, they go to the government and bring it to our company. Even now that there is no campus. What can they show them? We are the showcase of the industry, of the country. So it will have a much greater impact on students and universities, visitors and the general profile of Croatia. “
Rimac didn’t know this was where his company would be 10 years ago, but he did have hope: “There’s a Facebook status I wrote eight years ago in 2012 or ’13. I passed this 15th century castle on my bicycle. I said, ‘I have a crazy dream that makes no sense, and the probability of it happening is zero percent. But why not build the production facility next to the castle and have some offices in the castle and things like that? ‘I didn’t think we would grow to the level we are today. But that same idea stayed in my mind and we kept working on it. So now this is the campus project. ”
Although the castle no longer officially counts in the company’s floor plan for the headquarters, the land behind this supposed castle is the area where Rimac is now indeed building its new home. That crazy dream came true, and now Rimac will have the castle to look at during lunch breaks.