French hypercar manufacturer Bugatti, which saw a revival in the early 2000s at the hands of the Volkswagen Group, is splitting from its longtime parent company. Corporate partner Porsche has sold its stake in the brand to a New York–based investment consortium, rendering product and development control entirely to Rimac. The Croatian supercar firm has been involved in a joint venture with Bugatti since 2021, and Porsche's latest move will allow company founder Mate Rimac to mold Bugatti's future in his image. The Rumors Were True After All It was an open secret that Rimac wanted to take more control over the manufacturer of the legendary Veyron and Chiron and the forthcoming Tourbillon, although at the time, we and other outlets reported that Mate Rimac wanted to purchase Porsche's shares outright. Instead, the German company sold its 45 percent stake in the Bugatti Rimac joint venture to the consortium led by HOF Capital, which includes BlueFive Capital and a group of additional investors across Europe and the US. Rimac will retain its 55 percent majority stake in the joint venture, giving it de facto control over Bugatti development and technology.Jared Rosenholtz/CarBuzz/ValnetAs part of the transaction, Porsche also sold its 20.6 percent stake in Rimac Group, the umbrella company that includes the battery development experts at Rimac Technology, the fledgling city car company Verne, and the hypercar outfit at Bugatti Rimac. The deal should finalize before the end of 2026, and unfortunately for us rubberneckers, all parties have agreed to keep the financial terms anonymous.However, per Reuters, Bugatti Rimac has an estimated valuation of more than $1 billion, meaning Porsche may have raised around $500 million just by selling the hypercar company alone, much less its stake in the Rimac Group.With the sale of our stake, we demonstrate that we will focus Porsche on the core business.–Dr. Michael Leiters, CEO of Porsche AGThe move comes as Porsche has been under pressure from its corporate overlords at the Volkswagen Group to cut costs and increase profits. The sports car automaker suffered a 10 percent decline in global sales in 2025, largely on the back of the Chinese market, and even though it was about as popular in the US last year, profits took a sharp downturn as a result of new tariff policies under the Trump administration. Abandoning its stake in Bugatti will help the company simplify its operations, refocusing it on high-volume products like the Macan, as well as a seemingly never-ending parade of higher-profit 911 variants such as the GT3 S/C. A Legacy Of Insane Engineering Bugatti can trace its modern roots to Ferdinand Piëch, the iconoclastic former CEO of Volkswagen Group and grandson of company founder Ferdinand Porsche. Piëch pushed the family business into ever more lofty segments throughout the 1990s, purchasing Lamborghini in 1998 and nesting it under the Audi brand, then leading the contentious acquisition of Bentley from its former owner Vickers the same year. Then, in 2000, Volksagen Group officially acquired Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S., which gave Piëch the latitude to make an insane promise: a 1,000-horsepower supercar with a top speed of more than 250 miles per hour before the end of the decade.BugattiThe 2005 Veyron 16.4 was the result of that promise, its name referring to Bugatti's test driver in the 1930s, Pierre Veyron, as well as to its 16-cylinder, quad-turbo engine. Clocking in at 1,001 metric horsepower (987 hp), the 8.0-liter W16 became Bugatti's calling card for the next two decades, with the first iteration motoring the Veyron to 253 mph on the Nardó Ring. Successive versions of the W16 brought even more power – the 1,184-hp 2011 Veyron Super Sport, the 1,479-hp 2016 Chiron, and the 1,578-hp Centodieci – before the engine reached its full culmination under the engine cover of the Bolide. That 1,825-hp track rat could reach a staggering top speed of 311 mph.The first jointly developed product of the 2021 Bugatti Rimac joint venture was the Tourbillon, which debuted in 2024 with an 8.4-liter V16 engine that officially sent the legendary W16 into retirement. The naturally aspirated engine gets help from three electric motors to produce 1,775 hp, nearly as much as the Bolide despite lacking any kind of forced induction. Mate Rimac himself is very excited about the Tourbillon – despite his EV-focused corporate namesake, he is a die-hard internal combustion fan, and he could be the perfect steward for the legendary French brand."Porsche has been a crucial partner, and we are deeply grateful for their role in establishing Bugatti Rimac," the Croatian executive said."With the strong foundations their support has provided, we now have a structure that allows us to execute even faster on our long-term vision. We look forward to our collaboration with our new partners."