It’s now been two years since Rimac delivered its first Nevera hypercars to customers, a record-setting EV from the small Croatian company now also running Bugatti. So as you might expect from the advent of another Monterey Car Week, after a couple of styling-focused special editions it’s time for an enticing new variant of the Nevera. Enter the Rimac Nevera R, which has more power, better aerodynamics and, if you can believe it, even quicker acceleration.
Rimac says the Nevera R name “suggests its development follows the philosophy of the Rimac brand: Radical, rebellious, relentless.” I wish it instead had some sort of actual name, but oh well. CEO Mate Rimac says the Nevera R is the result of the company “relentlessly tweaking to customers’ desires,” and he said customers wanted a car that enhanced the Nevera’s already stupendous cornering capabilities, with a focus on driver feedback.
It starts with a next-gen “performance-oriented” 108-kWh battery pack that’s smaller and lighter than the standard Nevera’s 120-kWh pack. As with the normal Nevera, the pack is positioned in a T shape, with cells in the center tunnel and behind the driver, giving the car mid-engine weight distribution and characteristics. The Nevera R’s four electric motors put out a total of 2,107 horsepower, up from 1,914 hp, comfortably making it the most powerful electric vehicle you can buy (and the second most powerful car in the world after the Koenigsegg Gemera).
The Nevera R’s 1.74-second 0-to-60-mph time is the same as the absurdly quick standard Nevera’s, and that’s mainly because the tires are at their achievable performance limits. The 0-to-124-mph time of 4.38 seconds is four-hundredths quicker, while the 8.66-second 0-to-186-mph time is 0.57 seconds quicker. It’ll do the quarter-mile in 8.23 seconds, an improvement of 0.03 seconds, and sprinting from 62 mph to 124 mph takes only 2.46 seconds, an improvement of 0.13 seconds. Top speed of the Nevera R is 217 mph (or 256 mph with manufacturer oversight), a bit off the normal car’s 258-mph top speed.
Chalk that up to the Nevera R’s updated styling and big-ass rear wing. The existing Nevera is a cool-looking car with some interesting design elements and aerodynamic solutions, but Rimac has yet to really solidify its design language in my eyes — the R is a big step in that direction. Its redesigned nose is much cleaner and more distinctive, where Rimac says its designers and engineers “seamlessly integrated sensual surfacing and precise graphics.” There are new lower splitters and side skirts, the updated rear bumper and diffuser are smoother, and the mix of painted surfaces and carbon-fiber elements is better resolved. I love the new three-spoke wheels, too. And yeah, just look at that fixed rear wing.
Downforce is improved by 15 percent and aerodynamic efficiency is up by 10 percent, according to Rimac. The car’s negative camber has been increased, and new Michelin Cup 2 tires reduce understeer by 10 percent and up lateral grip by 5 percent. With an electric motor at each wheel the Nevera has one of the most advanced torque-vectoring systems in the world, and for the Nevera R it has been retuned to match the better tires and aero and provide greater stability and predictability, especially in the wet. The steering is also retuned for sharper response and feedback, and new carbon-ceramic Evo2 brakes have a silicone matrix layer for better braking performance, cooling and durability.
The company claims the Nevera R will lap the Nardo Handling Track 3.8 seconds quicker than the standard car, and I’m guessing Rimac has its eyes set on breaking more records. Last summer the Nevera set a production-car record at the Goodwood Hill Climb, which was broken this year by the Czinger 21C. Also last summer, the Nevera set an EV production car lap record at the Nürburgring, which the Nevera R will surely be able to beat.
Only 40 units of the Nevera R will be made, counting towards the 150 total Neveras that Rimac plans to build. With the base Nevera already coming in at over $2 million before options, expect the Nevera R to add many more hundreds of thousands of dollars on top of that. Customers will have even more customization options than before both inside and out.
