After more than a quarter century of ownership, the Volkswagen Group is severing its last direct ties to Bugatti. Porsche, a VW subsidiary, has agreed to sell its remaining stakes in both the Bugatti Rimac joint venture and Rimac Group itself to a consortium led by New York-based investment firm HOF Capital, according to an announcement distributed in May 2026.
The deal hands strategic and operational control of one of the world’s most exclusive hypercar brands to Rimac Group and its new financial backers, closing a chapter that began when Volkswagen acquired the dormant Bugatti name in 1998 and revived it with the era-defining Veyron.
What the deal involves
Porsche held a 45% stake in Bugatti Rimac, the joint venture formed in November 2021 that merged Bugatti’s century-old engineering pedigree with Croatian startup Rimac’s electric-vehicle battery and powertrain technology. Rimac Group controlled the remaining 55%. Porsche also held a separate equity position in Rimac Group itself.
Under the agreement, HOF Capital is leading an investor consortium that will acquire both of those positions. Once the transaction closes, Rimac Group and its new capital partners will own Bugatti outright, with no Volkswagen Group entity remaining on the shareholder register.
The announcement was issued by HOF Capital through PR Newswire, a standard channel for corporate deal disclosures. Neither Porsche nor Volkswagen Group had released a separate public statement at the time of publication.
In the press release, HOF Capital founder Samir Vasavada described the acquisition as a chance to support Rimac Group’s vision. “We are thrilled to partner with Mate and the Rimac team to help unlock the full potential of Bugatti and Rimac’s world-class technology platform,” Vasavada said in the announcement.
Why it matters for Bugatti’s future
The exit gives Rimac founder and CEO Mate Rimac a freer hand to chart Bugatti’s direction without navigating the priorities of a massive German automaker. That matters right now because Bugatti is in the middle of a pivotal product transition. The Tourbillon, unveiled in June 2024 as the successor to the Chiron, pairs a naturally aspirated 8.3-liter V-16 engine with a hybrid electric system, and deliveries are expected to begin in 2026. Buyers who have placed deposits on the roughly $4 million car will be watching closely for any signals that the ownership change could affect production timelines or after-sales commitments.
The original logic of the 2021 joint venture was to fuse Bugatti’s combustion-engine mastery and brand prestige with Rimac’s high-performance electric drivetrains. That logic does not disappear with Porsche’s exit. If anything, consolidated ownership could accelerate decisions about future models, including whether Bugatti will eventually produce a fully electric hypercar or continue blending combustion and electric power.
What Volkswagen’s exit signals
Volkswagen acquired Bugatti under the leadership of Ferdinand Piëch, who saw the brand as a showcase for the group’s engineering ambitions. The Veyron and its successor, the Chiron, delivered on that vision but were never profit centers in the traditional sense. Each generation was produced in limited numbers at Bugatti’s atelier in Molsheim, France, and served primarily as a halo for the broader VW empire.
The sale fits a pattern. Volkswagen Group has been restructuring aggressively, trimming non-core assets and redirecting capital toward mass-market electrification and software development as it faces intensifying competition from Chinese EV manufacturers and tightening European emissions regulations. Porsche itself has been sharpening its focus on its own electric lineup, led by the Taycan and the forthcoming electric Cayenne.
Still, without an official statement from Porsche or VW explaining the strategic rationale, the precise motivation remains unconfirmed. The sale could reflect portfolio discipline, disagreements over Bugatti’s product roadmap, or simply a recognition that Rimac no longer needs a legacy automaker as a co-parent.
Who is HOF Capital?
HOF Capital is a New York-based investment firm that has previously backed technology companies across sectors including artificial intelligence, fintech, and mobility. Its involvement signals that the consortium views Bugatti and Rimac’s technology platform as an investment opportunity at the intersection of luxury goods and advanced engineering, rather than a purely automotive play.
The full composition of the consortium has not been disclosed. Deals of this nature in the automotive and technology sectors often involve multiple limited partners, family offices, or sovereign wealth funds whose identities and governance rights shape long-term strategy. Until those details emerge, it is unclear how much influence outside investors will have relative to Rimac Group.
Key questions still unanswered
Several significant details are missing from the public record. No purchase price or valuation figure has been disclosed, making it impossible to gauge whether Porsche is exiting at a gain or a loss, or how the market currently values Bugatti’s brand equity alongside Rimac’s technology portfolio. Financial terms may surface in Porsche’s regulatory filings in Germany, which are required under securities law and would likely accompany a quarterly earnings report.
Regulatory approval status is also unclear. Cross-border acquisitions involving European automotive assets typically require review by EU competition authorities and potentially other jurisdictions. The announcement does not state whether such approvals have been secured or remain pending, meaning the deal may not yet be final. The language “agrees to sell” indicates a completed negotiation but not necessarily a completed transfer of shares.
Bugatti’s leadership has not commented publicly on how the change will affect day-to-day operations at Molsheim, workforce decisions, or warranty obligations for existing owners. Rimac’s own commercial trajectory, including the limited sales volume of its Nevera electric hypercar, adds another layer of uncertainty about the combined entity’s financial footing.
What Rimac and HOF Capital must prove from here
What is confirmed: Porsche has agreed to sell its stakes in both Bugatti Rimac and Rimac Group. HOF Capital is leading the buying consortium. Rimac Group is consolidating its position at the center of Bugatti’s future. Those facts come directly from one of the transaction’s principals and are supported by a formal press release.
What is not yet confirmed: the price, the full investor roster, the regulatory timeline, and the strategic reasoning from Porsche’s side. Until Porsche files its own disclosure or Rimac and Bugatti address operational questions, the deal sits in a familiar corporate limbo: announced but not yet fully transparent.
For the hypercar world, though, the headline is already clear. The Volkswagen era at Bugatti is over. What Mate Rimac and his new partners build next will determine whether the Bugatti name enters its next century as a technological leader or a beautiful relic trading on its past.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
