Plenty of manufacturers talk about “community” and “brand intimacy.” Very few can credibly sell access without it feeling a little funny. Rimac can still pull this kind of marketing language off because the company is still young enough that its mythology hasn’t calcified. Mate Rimac is not a distant figurehead, another in a long line of Rimacs. He’s still deeply involved in engineering decisions, design reviews, and long-term planning, and that proximity matters. When buyers are invited into Rimac’s orbit, it doesn’t feel like a stunt. It feels like continuity.
That's exactly what 10 well-heeled buyers get with their allocations of one of the 10 examples of the Rimac Nevera R Founder's Edition. These are people who were already close to the brand, now being acknowledged as part of its foundation rather than just customers with large checkbooks. Or maybe a little bit of both.
Legacy automakers struggle to offer this kind of intimacy because they’re too large and too layered. Too many people feel they are owed this kind of intimacy. But I think Rimac is small enough, focused enough, and confident enough to make the experience genuinely personal without losing credibility.
Traditional automotive status is easy to spot. Loud colors. Massive wings. Limited production plaques. The Nevera R Founder’s Edition goes the opposite direction. Its exclusivity is clear, given that Rimac is only making 10 examples. However, you might not get how special it is unless you are already in the Rimac headspace. That feels very intentional. The visual restraint, the absence of public marketing, and the lack of detailed public specs all reinforce the same idea: this car isn’t meant to be explained to outsiders. Rimac is really leaning into the idea of "if you have to ask..."
In a world where social media has killed exclusivity, Rimac has found a way to reintroduce it, as long as you have deep pockets. The real flex isn’t the 2,107 horsepower here, nor the 1.66-second 0-60 time, 237-mph top speed, or the records it has set. It’s the access.
The experience begins at the Rimac Campus in Zagreb with an in-person configuration session led by Mate Rimac himself, alongside Design Director Frank Heyl and the design team. Using V-RED visualization software, customers fine-tune colors, materials, and finishes in real time, watching the car evolve as decisions are made. Each Founder’s Edition car starts with a striking two-tone baseline specification, split along the natural geometry of the body to visually lower the car and sharpen its angles.
"Instead of creating some shouty livery, we use the natural geometry of the car as the color division to emphasize what we're trying to achieve here," says Lead Exterior Designer Clark Yutong Wu.
An ultra-thin central roof stripe, just two millimeters at its narrowest point, carries Rimac’s cravat motif and subtle circuit-board graphics. Inside, bespoke embroidery acts as a sort of Easter egg pointing to three key moments in Rimac history, paired with a wild, asymmetrical seat layout inspired by Mate’s personal Nevera. From hand-stitched interiors to custom-matched leathers and paint hues pulled from other vehicles in an owner’s collection, no two of the 10 cars will be alike.
Ok, so once you design your Nevera, the fun is far from over. First of all, Mate himself will deliver each of the 10 cars. From there, Founder’s Club members receive priority access to product previews, invitations to private performance showcases and record-setting runs, and a company card granting direct access to Bugatti Rimac headquarters. They’re invited into strategy discussions with Mate and the leadership team and given meaningful input into future research and development. Rimac’s professional test team also provides specialist driver training. The Nevera R Founder’s Edition is not just about getting a car with truly staggering performance numbers or limited production bragging rights, of which it is both; it’s about proximity to the people, the process, and the future of the brand.
The Nevera R Founder’s Edition hints at where the top end of the car market may be heading. As performance numbers converge and technology becomes more replicable, differentiation shifts away from raw capability and toward experience.
We've all read too many headlines at this point to be dazzled by crazy horsepower and time-warping torque. Rimac is making the point that it isn’t just selling a car. It’s selling a seat at the table to participate in the company’s future. That model may prove more valuable than any single record run or acceleration figure. For the right buyer, being inside the process might matter at least as much, if not more, than owning the product.
If this approach catches on, the next generation of hypercars may be defined less by what they can do and more by who's allowed to do it. And Rimac, once again, looks like it arrived there early.