Mate Rimac (pronounce his name correctly, Rimatz, please; he’s earned that) is a name that needs absolutely zero introduction for anyone with even marginal knowledge of cars. Chances are, if you are aware of the existence of automobiles, you might have heard of him. Still, one thing was missing from his long list of momentous achievements: a customer from his native Croatia.
That long-unfulfilled wish has come true today when the reputed hypercar maker delivered its first example to a Croatian man on the premises of Manhattan Motorcars, the local dealer of Rimac Automobili. Why the New York-themed ceremony? Because that’s where the client lives now – he’s been doing it for the past 25 years.
The client is Dr. Branko Škovrlj, a neurosurgeon who came to live his American dream in 1999 as a Rotary exchange student in Council Grove, Kansas. The Croatian student and future hypercar owner received a basketball scholarship and completed his undergraduate studies at Clayton State University in Atlanta, Georgia. After the 2005 graduation (Magna Cum Laude, I should point out), his career skyrocketed in the field of neuroscience, and he is a well-known specialist in that highly accurate domain.
A very successful medic, also - the Nevera is all sorts of things, but not low on numbers – from top speed to power to price, everything about the Croatian dream machine is superlative. The starting price of a Nevera is 2.2 million bucks, so the good doctor has some deep pockets. And he got every cent’s worth from his co-national’s land missile buying experience.
Photo: Rimac Automobili
According to the carmaker, the doctor stumbled upon the Rimac Nevera by chance through a video on YouTube. Having the same Balkan roots and a similar path in life – starting from scratch and making it on top – Dr. Škovrlj expressed his interest in buying one of the 150 units in the limited production run.
You get the full treat when you pay through the nose for a super-exclusive two-seater that makes less noise than a wristwatch. The Croatian medic was invited to meet the team that builds the Neveras, tour the facility, and spec out his preferences. Occupational habit or simple coincidence, the 26 kilometers (16 miles) of wiring fitted to every Rimac Nevera prompted the brain doctor to compare it to the neurons in the said brain.
Mate Rimac’s first Croatian customer (albeit living in America) went for Predator Black ‘Fantasy’ livery over Red Blaze leather to match the glossy red brake calipers behind the Infinitus wheels. However, the goodies in his Nevera – and in all other Neveras, for that matter, don’t come from the black satin finish for the anodized metals or the perforated seats with signature Rimac stitching but from what’s between the four electric motors.
The Nevera boasts 1,914 PS and 2360 Nm (1,887 hp and 1,741 lb-ft), and last spring, it shattered 23 speed, acceleration, and braking records in one day. Among those feats, the 0-60 mph (97 kph) time of 1.74 seconds, the quarter-mile of 8.25 seconds, and the 0-250 mph/400 kph-0 times of 29.93 seconds would make a fighter jet green with envy. If you want to revisit that attempt and see the complete list of Nevera ‘mosts’ and ‘tops,’ click the video below.
After nearly two decades in news television, Răzvan turned to a different medium. He’s been a field journalist, a TV producer, and a seafarer but found that he feels right at home among petrolheads. Full profile
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