The Volkswagen Group consists of 13 brands, not all of which are sold in the US. Cupra, Seat's former sports division, is one of them. To mark its newfound independence, Cupra unveiled the e-Racer concept last March at Geneva. As you can clearly tell by its name, the e-Racer is all-electric, but is based on the gasoline-powered Cup Racer. As it turns out, Rimac, the company behind the insane all-electric Concept S and C_Two hypercars, secretly collaborated with Cupra on the project.
Only a few weeks ago we learned that Porsche, another VW brand, purchased a 10 percent stake in Rimac, but it's now known the VW Group-Rimac relationship is expanding, to a degree. As for the Cupra e-Racer, it produces a total of 402 hp and up to 680 lb-ft of torque, and features a single gear with torque vectoring and rear wheel traction.
Top speed has been clocked at nearly 168 mph and it can accelerate from 0-62 mph in 3.2 seconds, and 0 to 124 mph in 8.2 seconds. "Our story started with racing and we have always felt a strong connection to the motorsport world," said Rimac founder and CEO Mate Rimac. "More than anything, our aim is to prove that electric cars of the future are fun, fast and exciting. The opportunity to collaborate with Cupra on the e-Racer and introduce a whole new E TCR category in e-Racing is a great responsibility for Rimac. This exciting project in our portfolio will challenge us to meet the performance and safety expectations of race cars pushing us to the very best of our technical capabilities."
Testing of the Cupra e-Racer is already underway, taking place at a track in Croatia, Rimac's home country. The specific focus of their testing, at least initially, is to test the integration of the electric battery pack with the rest of the car. Along with Porsche and now Cupra, Rimac has also assisted Aston Martin, Renault, Koenigsegg and other brands that may wish to remain anonymous for now on electrification technology. Although most can't afford to buy an actual Rimac, we're confident that one day soon we'll all be in the position to buy an EV with Rimac tech.
