His Bugatti Was Stolen. So the CEO Chased It Across Two Borders in a 911

October 30 — Mate Rimac, CEO of Bugatti Rimac, posted a video on Instagram describing how he chased down his own car after it was stolen on Wednesday, 28 October.

One of his personal Bugatti Chirons was stolen on Wednesday from outside the company campus near Zagreb, Croatia. The thief drove through Slovenia into Austria, where Austrian police finally stopped the car on the A9 motorway near Graz.

Rimac said he has long been in the habit of leaving the keys in his cars, including this Chiron and his own Rimac Nevera electric hypercar. Because staff and colleagues often need to move vehicles or run tests, leaving the keys inside saves hunting for them. He had always assumed Croatia was safe, so he had never thought much about it.

The campus has no fence; a badge is needed to get in, but the surrounding area is open. Since colleagues also use Rimac’s cars, no one noticed anything at first — until someone spotted a stranger driving the car away and told company staff.

According to The Drive, an employee saw the car being taken, staff confirmed in a chat group that nobody knew the person inside it, and the police were called. Rimac called the police and pulled real-time location, speed and fuel data from the car’s telemetry system.

The telemetry showed the car heading for Slovenia. With roughly an hour’s head start, Rimac decided to give chase in his own Porsche 911 while team members kept feeding the car’s position to police to help them find the suspect.

According to Autonext, police in Styria said the man stole the car near Zagreb on Wednesday afternoon, crossed Slovenia and entered Austria at the Spielfeld border crossing. The car was eventually stopped on the A9 near Graz.

Rimac said he had hoped police would stop the car before it entered the next country, so the border could be sealed in time, but the suspect got the Chiron into Austria anyway. As fuel ran low, the trackers hoped the thief would stop at a petrol station and be caught.

Rimac reckons the suspect put in only half a tank — and left without paying. He had expected a quick handover at the roadside, but found about 10 police cars and 20 officers waiting. According to HotCars, the front bumper was slightly damaged, which Rimac said can be repaired.

Rimac later met the suspect at an Austrian police station: a 36-year-old Croatian man. According to Asia News, the man said he had gone to the company’s location to look for work and drove off when he saw the keys left in the Chiron.

Rimac said that the fact the man stole a Bugatti — and that particular car — made him think something was off about him. According to HotCars, Rimac had wanted to drive the man home to his family once he got the car back.

Rimac said he will not press charges, but because of the car’s high value the case will still go through the courts. According to Autonext, prosecutors in Graz have opened a case. As for its value, AFP put the starting price at €2.4 million (about 17.9 million yuan), while Autonext put the car at about €3 million (about 22.3 million yuan).

Lesson learned: Rimac says he will not leave his keys in the car again.