Mate Rimac’s daily driver isn’t even from his own company, in fact it’s incredibly humble
- Bugatti-Rimac CEO Mate Rimac is clearly a proper car guy
- Among others, he regularly drives a BMW M5 and M3 to work
- Both these cars are several generations and decades old
Published on Feb 24, 2025 at 3:58 PM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis
Last updated on Feb 24, 2025 at 3:59 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
Even though he runs Bugatti and Rimac, Mate Rimac drives a relatively humble BMW 5 Series, a 20+ years old E39 M5 to be exact.
Mate apparently loves commuting to work with his E39 M5, a car that’s several decades and several generations old.
It’s not a cheap car in absolute terms, but seeing him at the wheel of this car is surprising, considering he could drive any Bugatti and Rimac he wanted.
The fact the chooses and old-school BMW instead of those speaks volumes.
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Why Mate Rimac drives this particular BMW
Like other uber-powerful and mega-rich CEOs, Mate Rimac drives a car that’s a lot less expensive than you’d expect.
Bernard Arnault, for example, drives a cheap Peugeot 205, and Warren Buffett famously drives an 11-year-old Cadillac with a dented door.
But while Arnault and Buffett drives those cars because they’re frugal and just don’t care about expensive cars, the reason why Mate drives this BMW is different.
The thing is, Mate is clearly a proper car guy, and a lot of BMW fans would argue that the E39 is the best 5-Series ever made.
His M5 is also definitely a fast car, considering its 4.9-liter V8 puts out 400 horsepower.
Even though he founded a company that makes electric hypercars, Rimac is well aware that internal combustion engines still play a key role.
When he took over Bugatti, he made it clear right away that Bugatti wouldn’t become just another EV maker.
A car from several generations ago
The E39 M5 was introduced in 1998 and remained in production until 2003, meaning Mate’s car is well over 20 years old.
It’s also from several generations ago.
The BMW 5 Series you can drive today is the eight generation, while the one he drives is a fourth-gen BMW 5 Series.
Mate clearly has a thing for old(er) BMWs.
We know this because he also owns another BMW that’s even older (the M3 pictured above), and he drives that one, too.
And we shouldn’t worry about him anyway because this M3 is one of several car he owns, along with a $2.2 million Rimac Nevera built specifically for him, and a few more classic BMWs.
