Lutz Meschke and Mate Rimac on the OMR Podcast: Porsche’s Startup Activities & How to Build an Electric Hypercar Company
Porsche CFO Lutz Meschke had the opportunity to team up with Mate Rimac, founder and CEO of Rimac Automobili/Rimac Group, and Philipp Westermeyer, founder of OMR, to talk about Porsche AG’s startup activities and its exciting cooperation with Rimac Group. Here’s why you shouldn’t miss the latest episode of the OMR Podcast.
The OMR Podcast is Germany’s biggest digital marketing and tech podcast. Hosted and created by entrepreneur and OMR founder Philipp Westermeyer, the audio show has established itself as the leading German-language business podcast since its launch in 2015. Westermeyer has had many great guests on his show: Christian Horner (#OMR 468), Ashton Kutcher (#OMR 371), Verena Pausder and Lea-Sophie Cramer (#469) come to mind, and, of course, Herbert Diess (#OMR 417). There are now 490 episodes of the OMR Podcast.
Lutz Meschke talks with electric hypercar pioneer Mate Rimac
In the latest episode, Porsche CFO Lutz Meschke had the opportunity to talk about Porsche’s startup activities together with Westermeyer and electric hypercar pioneer Mate Rimac, who has not only built the first Croatian car brand, but also a globally admired manufacturer of electric supercars: Rimac Automobili. The Rimac Nevera, named after the unexpected and powerful Mediterranean storms and Rimac’s latest engineering marvel, accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in just 1.97 seconds, with a top speed of more than 400 km/h.
In November 2021, Rimac Automobili and Bugatti Automobiles joined forces and commenced operations as part of a new joint company, Bugatti Rimac, with Porsche AG playing a major role as strategic partner and CEO Oliver Blume and CFO Lutz Meschke sitting on the Supervisory Board.
Building electric hypercars
In the OMR podcast, Rimac and Meschke talk about their unusual partnership, how they met, and what they appreciate about their partnership. In 2009, Lutz Meschke was appointed to the Porsche’s Management Board, the same year Rimac Automobili was founded. When Porsche decided to build its first all-electric sports car in 2014, Meschke looked around for partners who could help with development. A colleague showed him a newspaper article about a young man and his electric hypercar startup in Croatia, Meschke recalls in the OMR Podcast.
Full episode now on your favourite podcast platform!
In the episode, Rimac and Meschke also talk about future plans for the Bugatti luxury brand, multi-million-euro cars, and how they built up the Bugatti Rimac joint venture. Other topics include why the collaboration between Rimac Automobili and Porsche is a case of best practice for the automotive industry and what Porsche can learn from startups.
Here are timestamps for the episode by topic:
· How Mate Rimac became a car developer (00:03:00)
· Porsche steps in as investor (00:15:00)
· What sets Rimac apart from other carmakers (00:28:00)
· Mate Rimac gets responsibility for Bugatti (00:36:00)
· Rimac builds the biggest building in Croatia (00:51:00)
· How to build a new luxury brand (00:59:00)
The episode is up on all your favorite podcast platforms. Please note that the podcast is in German. Many thanks to Philipp Westermeyer for making it all happen!
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