A Croat came to get a job at a tech company, but instead was tempted to steal the owner's expensive Bugatti
In Croatia, a Bugatti Chiron worth 3 million euros was stolen from the premises of entrepreneur and creator of innovative hypercars, Mate Rimac's company. The thief was apprehended less than 24 hours later thanks to a joint operation by the police of several countries and the car's built-in telemetry system. Rimac himself humorously confirmed the incident in a video on social media and explained how such a thing could have happened at all, writes Devby.io.
Rimac is often called the "Balkan Elon Musk". His company, Rimac Automobili, started in a garage and now produces the electric hypercar Rimac Nevera, considered the fastest in the world, and controls the Bugatti brand as part of the Bugatti Rimac joint venture.
As it turned out, the businessman considered his country very safe and for many years left the keys simply inside his cars. This applied not only to the Chiron but also to the exclusive Nevera. This was done purely for the convenience of employees: within the campus, cars are constantly moved, tested, and used for work purposes.
The factory entrance itself is equipped with a pass system, but the external area of the campus remains accessible. The Bugatti was in the yard when a 36-year-old Croatian citizen simply walked into the parking lot, got behind the wheel, and calmly drove away.
The disappearance of the car was not noticed immediately. Rimac's colleagues and friends regularly take his cars for a ride, so the founder himself doesn't always know where a particular hypercar is at any given moment. The alarm was raised only after one of the eyewitnesses noticed a suspicious driver behind the wheel of the Chiron and reported it to the company. Employees started communicating in chats, trying to find out who took the car, and quickly realized it had been stolen.
While Rimac was calling the police, his engineers connected to the Bugatti's telemetry system. The hypercar transmitted its coordinates, speed, and fuel level to the servers in real-time. The data showed that the thief was moving at high speed towards Slovenia.
Rimac got into his Porsche 911 and rushed in pursuit. Despite the thief's significant lead, Mate expected that the Chiron's fuel-consuming engine would force him to stop for gas before the Austrian border.
The plan almost worked: the thief managed to drive through Croatia and Slovenia, but was later apprehended by Austrian police at a gas station. By that time, law enforcement agencies from three countries were already working together, and Austrian police received real-time coordinates of the hypercar directly from the Rimac command center.
As it turned out, the man initially came to the company to apply for a job. However, seeing the car and the keys left in plain sight, he decided to steal the car and drive it to Germany. Rimac has no personal grievances against the man who never became an employee of the company, but given the value of the car, the police will not leave him unpunished.
The entrepreneur specifically thanked the Austrian law enforcement officers for their prompt work. The car was returned to its owner almost undamaged. After this, Rimac decided not to leave keys inside his cars anymore.
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