The origin story of how Mate Rimac became part owner and CEO of one of the most legendary automotive marques on the planet is the fantastical stuff of Disney films. When it was first announced the young entrepreneur behind a nascent, but clearly promising, Croatian start-up was inheriting Bugatti, the automotive world was in shock—as was Rimac himself. Of course the presumption being that this electric-vehicle wunderkind would lead Bugatti’s transition into the zero-emission realm. The evolution seemed as preordained as a Tom Brady Super Bowl.
So when we arrived at a Long Beach, California, studio and first laid eyes on this machine boasting a broiling V-16 at its heart,
