Mate Rimac Joins the Hunt for His Stolen $3.3 Million Bugatti
Bugatti CEO Mate Rimac learned an expensive lesson when a suspected thief drove away in his $3.3 million Bugatti Chiron from the company’s headquarters near Zagreb, Croatia. Rimac had left the keys inside, and that small oversight quickly turned into an international pursuit.
Rimac explained in an Instagram video that he had become comfortable leaving his keys in his vehicles because of Croatia’s reputation for safety.
“I’m so proud of Croatia being so safe that I’m very relaxed – meaning also I always leave my keys inside my cars, including the Chiron, and [Rimac] Nevera, and many other cars,” Rimac said in an Instagram video.
That confidence disappeared when a stranger walked onto the company’s Zagreb-area campus, climbed into the blue Bugatti and drove off. Security footage later released by Rimac showed the hoodie-wearing suspect approaching the car, looking around and getting behind the wheel.
At first, Bugatti employees reportedly thought someone had borrowed the vehicle. They soon realized the car had been stolen. Rimac contacted police and used the Chiron’s tracking system to follow its route toward neighboring Slovenia.
Rimac then started his own pursuit. He jumped into a Porsche 911 that was full of fuel, even though the suspected thief already had about a one-hour head start.
“I was right next to my 911, which was full of fuel, so [I’m] full-throttle chasing after him,” Rimac recalled.
The chase took another unusual turn when the suspect stopped to put fuel in the Bugatti’s 8.0-liter engine. He added roughly half a tank of gas and left without paying before continuing toward Austria.
Rimac’s team tracked the car in real time. Austrian police eventually arrested a 36-year-old Croatian national after finding the Bugatti at a petrol station near Seiersberg in Styria shortly after 7 p.m. Wednesday, according to Croatia Week.
At an Austrian police station, Rimac confronted the suspect. The man reportedly said he had gone to the company looking for a job, then saw the car with a key inside.
“He said he came to the company to ask for a job, ‘but I saw the car and it had a key inside,’ like it was my fault,” Rimac recounted in disbelief.
Rimac said he initially did not want to press charges. He even considered driving the suspect home. Authorities told him they would pursue the case because of the vehicle’s high value.
Despite the cross-border chase, the Chiron suffered only minor damage. The unusual theft began with a car owner’s relaxed approach to security and ended with the vehicle recovered in Austria.
Source: The Liberty Daily