Bugatti Rimac CEO Mate Rimac may have made his name with electric supercars produced by his eponymous company, but he believes Bugatti should stick with internal-combustion engines.
At the recent Financial Times Future of the Car conference in London, Rimac said Bugatti will keep its combustion engines over the long term, and suggested the automaker could even build fuel stations in owners' homes to keep them supplied, Auto Express reports.
Bugatti V-16 prototype image posted by Mate Rimac on Facebook
The next Bugatti hypercar, which will replace the Chiron, will be unveiled on June 20, featuring a hybrid powertrain built around a new V-16 engine. Bugatti wants to get the most out of its investment in that engine, Rimac notes in the interview.
"I don't see any reason not to make them beyond 2035," Rimac said. "We have developed a completely new engine and we want to use that engine for awhile."
He's not concerned about future European emissions regulations expected to make it more difficult for manufacturers to develop gasoline-powered cars.
Mate Rimac
"I read the regulations and don't see a reason why it would be impossible—the headlines say combustion-engined cars will be banned from 2035, but you read the fine print and it doesn't say that anywhere—you can still build them, but there might be some penalties," he said.
At the same conference, Rimac also said electric vehicles have started to lose their cool factor as governments attempt to mandate the technology, and this has pushed buyers, especially in the high-end segment, to favor cars with gas engines. He said the Rimac brand's future lies in ground-breaking tech, and that its future cars don't necessarily have to be EVs.