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Rimac founder credits Elon Musk: ‘People don’t appreciate what he is doing for humanity’
Mate Rimac, the 31-year-old founder of hypercar maker Rimac Automobili and CEO of electric bike company Greyp, has created great waves in the all-electric vehicle segment. His vehicles are brutally fast just as they are exclusive, with Rimac’s first car, the Concept One, costing $2.1 million and having a very limited production run of eight vehicles. The company is now working on its second vehicle, the C_Two, one of the only upcoming production vehicles in the industry that can out-accelerate the base next-gen Roadster with its 0-60 mph time of 1.85 seconds.
Being one of Europe’s rising stars in the shift towards electrification, and being involved in both EV production and battery technologies, some publications have started dubbing the 31-year-old as the “Elon Musk of Europe.” It’s not really clear when the moniker was given to Rimac, but in a recent interview with Newsweek, the hypercar maker stated that he dislikes the unofficial title.
Rimac notes that ultimately, his company and Elon Musk’s electric car venture, Tesla, could not be any more different. Rimac Automobili is focused on hypercars that are extremely exclusive, while Tesla is fighting a bigger battle by attempting to breach the mass market. Ultimately, Rimac notes that Elon Musk’s projects, particularly those of SpaceX, are things that inspire people.
“I really respect Elon. I don’t like it when people say I am the ‘Elon Musk of Europe’ of whatever. I have never met the guy but I have huge respect for him. I think people don’t appreciate what he is doing for humanity. I think sending reusable rockets into space, wanting to conquer Mars and so on, it’s what inspires generations.
“It is what inspired people 40 or 50 years ago when we went to the Moon and nothing like that has been going on for years. And he is not doing that with somebody else’s money, it’s not the government, it’s a private enterprise. So I have huge respect for Elon,” he said.
In comparison, Rimac stated that his company is much smaller and much more focused on a smaller niche. Yet, despite this difference in scale, the hypercar maker maintained that Rimac Automobili remains a notable player in the transition towards sustainable transportation.
“We are a much smaller company. Obviously, the electric cars are connecting us but what he is doing and what we are doing is on a totally different scale and different impact. We are of course trying to do our part in the transition to a different kind of mobility, to a different kind of energy usage, from fossil fuels to electric and helping other car companies to go electric,” he said.
That being said, Rimac did state that he experienced some of the challenges that Elon Musk faced during the early days of Tesla. Among these, of course, was the argument that making electric vehicles was not a viable business. But at this point, the 31-year-old hypercar maker stated that electrification is simply a given. Gas-powered cars will likely still be around in the future, but they would likely be similar to horses, catering to a very small clientele.
“At the beginning, I think everybody thought I was crazy. Like making an electric supercar, why would you do that, nobody wants that, and so on. We are well beyond the point where people are like ‘this is not going to happen.’ I think everyone knows it’s going to happen. I think people don’t realize this is just one step and the bigger change, [which is] that drivers will become obsolete and ownership of cars will become obsolete.
“The question there is what happens to the sports car companies. I think sports car companies will still be relevant for the next few years, maybe a decade or two. Beyond that, there will for sure always be clientele who want the racehorses on closed courses and so on. If that is enough to keep all the sports car companies alive in the future… we shall see,” he said.
Just hours after Starship Flight 13 achieved a successful soft splashdown of its upper stage in the Indian Ocean on July 24, Elon Musk announced an ambitious next step for the company’s next launch of the rocket.
“Unless we discover problems after mission data review, SpaceX will attempt to catch the ship with the tower on [the] next flight,” the SpaceX CEO posted on X on Friday.
That “next flight” is expected to be Flight 14. The plan involves returning the Starship upper stage, commonly called the “ship,” to the Starbase launch tower in Texas and catching it mid-air using the same mechanical “chopsticks” arms that have already proven themselves with the Super Heavy booster.
Unless we discover problems after mission data review, SpaceX will attempt to catch the ship with the tower on next flight
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 25, 2026
A successful catch would mark the first time an orbital-class upper stage has been recovered this way, advancing SpaceX’s goal of full and rapid reusability for the entire vehicle.
SpaceX has already demonstrated the tower-catch technique multiple times with Super Heavy. The first successful catch came on Flight 5 in October 2024, when Booster 12 was plucked from the sky by the Mechazilla arms. Subsequent flights, including those involving Boosters 14 and 15, repeated the feat. Several of those recovered boosters were later inspected, refurbished, and flown again, proving the system’s viability for quick turnaround.
Traditional reusable rockets, such as SpaceX’s own Falcon 9 or Blue Origin’s New Shepard, land on legs either on land or droneships. Rocket Lab has recovered its small Electron first stages by helicopter, but those are far lighter vehicles.
SpaceX Starship just nailed something it’s never done before
The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), a subsidiary of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC), completed a catch of its booster on July 10. They are the only entity besides SpaceX to attempt and complete the feat.
Flight 13 provided encouraging data. The ship executed a controlled reentry, flipped, and soft-landed intact in the ocean after deploying Starlink satellites, offering the first clear post-splashdown views of an undamaged heat shield. The Super Heavy booster, meanwhile, experienced a harder splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
Musk has previously stressed that ship catches would only follow multiple successful soft ocean landings to minimize risk of debris over land.
If Flight 14 succeeds, SpaceX would take a major stride toward routine, rapid reuse of both stages—critical for lowering launch costs and supporting ambitious plans for lunar and Mars missions. For now, teams are reviewing the Flight 13 data. Should everything check out, the next Starship flight could deliver one of the most spectacular recoveries in aerospace history.
In a move echoing its earlier commitment to open innovation, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced recently that the company plans to make the design and software of its Model S and Model X fully open source.
This follows the same approach Tesla took with its original Roadster, releasing all available design, engineering, and diagnostic materials in November 2023 so that “whatever we have, you now have.”
Just as Tesla made the original Roadster design & software open source, we plan to do the same with Model S & X
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 24, 2026
The Model S, introduced in 2012, was Tesla’s first mass-produced vehicle and a groundbreaking luxury electric sedan. It offered impressive range, rapid acceleration, and over-the-air software updates that redefined expectations for electric cars.
The Model X, launched in 2015, built on that foundation as a high-performance electric SUV notable for its distinctive falcon-wing doors, spacious interior, and advanced safety features. Both models served as flagships that helped establish Tesla as a leader in the EV industry and popularized long-range battery-electric vehicles.
Production of the Model S and Model X was wound down earlier in 2026, with manufacturing ending in the second quarter. Tesla redirected the Fremont factory space previously used for these vehicles toward higher-priority projects, including Optimus humanoid robots and the Cybercab autonomous vehicle.
By the time of Musk’s open-source announcement, custom orders had closed and only remaining inventory was available.
Open-sourcing the designs and software offers several clear advantages. Owners of these aging but still capable vehicles gain better access to technical documentation, diagnostic tools, and software resources, making independent repairs and modifications easier and more affordable.
Independent repair shops and third-party specialists can support the large existing fleet without relying solely on Tesla’s service network. Enthusiasts and engineers can study real-world implementations of Tesla’s battery, powertrain, and software systems, potentially accelerating broader industry progress in electric mobility.
The step aligns with Tesla’s 2014 patent pledge and its overall mission to advance sustainable transport by sharing hard-won knowledge rather than locking it behind proprietary walls.
By releasing these materials now that the models have left production, Tesla ensures continued support for its early adopters while freeing internal resources for future technologies. The open-source release of the original Roadster already enabled simulations, community projects, and deeper technical understanding.
Extending that practice to the Model S and Model X should deliver similar benefits on a larger scale, helping keep these influential vehicles relevant and repairable for years to come
Tesla flexed one incredible Robotaxi metric during the Q2 Earnings Call that skeptics have to hate to hear. The company’s platform has already driven more than 380,000 miles of unsupervised ride-hailing across several states with no notable incidents.
During the company’s Q2 Earnings Call on Wednesday, Vice President of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, said:
“First of all, I’d like to state that the Robotaxi program has been operating extremely well. Especially in terms of safety, the program has had an impeccable safety record. We have driven more than 380,000 miles of unsupervised Robotaxi, now across six cities in two different states. We have had zero notable incidents. Any reports have been of other actors impacting us when we were stationary. I like to emphasize how safe the operation has been so far. Zero notable incidents over 380,000 miles.”
Elluswamy’s claim over Robotaxi miles is a significant milestone for Tesla in the grand scheme, especially considering this is a sizeable number of miles without any incident.
0 notable incidents across over 380,000 miles traveled by Robotaxi
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 22, 2026
Tesla’s self-driving approach is much different than that of other companies. Tesla has maintained that vision is the only thing needed to have a solid and effective self-driving suite. Many self-driving companies utilize things like LiDAR, sensors, and other elements to improve performance, but Elluswamy sent a jab at those who believe it’s needed.
“Historically, the so-called experts have always claimed that you need LiDARs, radars, HD maps, and the entire kitchen sink to drive safely. Here we show that such is not true. You can have safe, comfortable, and affordable autonomy with just cameras. This record should be a huge validation of Tesla’s entire AI approach.”
The feat of accumulating this many miles without any driver behind the wheel is impressive. The thing is, Tesla is also doing this across several different locations, with varying traffic rules, pedestrian levels, weather patterns, and other important factors.
While Tesla is not ready to roll out an unsupervised platform completely, it is a slow but steady indication that the company is well on its way to figuring things out.
The company’s attitude toward expansion is slow, safe, and controlled, and despite this huge milestone, it will still be some time until we see Tesla truly unleash unsupervised rides more aggressively.
SpaceX wants to catch Starship for launch 14, Elon Musk says
Tesla to open source Model S and Model X designs and software
