Mate Rimac, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Rimac Group, the new parent company of Bugatti, recently experienced an unusual security incident when his rare $3.3 million (approx. ₹27.5 crore) Bugatti Chiron was stolen directly from the company's factory grounds in Croatia.
The incident occurred after the chief executive left the vehicle ignition keys inside the unattended hypercar, relying on the country's exceptionally low crime rate where leaving keys in vehicles is a common personal habit.
The theft came to light on October 29, 2026, when Rimac and his staff noticed the Bugatti Chiron was missing from the facility lot. After confirming that no internal company employee was operating the hypercar, engineers accessed the vehicle's onboard real-time telemetry systems.
By monitoring location coordinates, vehicle speed, and fuel status via remote diagnostics, Rimac and local law enforcement authorities immediately initiated a high-speed tracking operation to intercept the fleeing hypercar.
The pursuit quickly developed into a cross-border international police effort as the suspect evaded local authorities at a fuel station in Croatia before crossing the border into neighbouring Austria. Austrian and Croatian police forces worked in coordination with Rimac Group's telemetry tracking team to corner and apprehend the driver.
Upon arrest, police identified the suspect as a man in his mid-30s who claimed he stumbled upon the keys inside the Chiron while visiting the facility to seek employment, subsequently deciding to drive the vehicle toward Germany.
Following the successful recovery of his Bugatti Chiron, Mate Rimac shared the incident on social media, detailing how telemetry tech helped retrieve the hypercar intact. Refined by the experience, the chief executive confirmed that he'll now abandon his practice of leaving keys inside unattended vehicles, regardless of location safety.
