Croatian firm Rimac sets up electric car JV in China

ZAGREB - Croatian company Rimac Automobili and China-based Camel Group are building a factory for electric motors and batteries in China, Croatian daily Poslovni Dnevnik reported on Tuesday.

The total investment is worth $158.2 million. Rimac Automobili participates with 5 million euros ($6.1 million), knowledge and technology, while the rest is covered by Camel Group.

In return, Rimac will receive 40 percent of the shares in the joint venture called Zhongkeluorui Technology Co. Ltd. The factory will be built in Xiangyang, a city in central China's Hubei province and will have a designed capacity of producing 50,000 units per year.

"China is important to us because it represents the biggest market in the world for electric cars, buses, trucks and other methods of transport which are recording the biggest growth," said Mate Rimac, the founder and CEO of Rimac Automobili.

Rimac, who previously claimed he would not move production out of Croatia, decided to make an exception for the Chinese market.

"China has been strategically committed to electric vehicles and it plans to completely switch the transport to electric drive so we made an exception for the Chinese market. The development and production for all other world markets will remain in Croatia," Rimac explained.

In September 2017, Camel Group invested 30 million euros ($37.2 million) in Rimac Automobili. It has been the single largest foreign direct investment in a Croatian technological company.