Video: Rimac Nevera hypercar smashes Tesla’s Nurburgring electric-car lap record

The Rimac Nevera – a new battery-powered hypercar built by a Croatian company – has broken the record for the fastest electric production car to lap the Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit in Germany.

Rimac's seven-minute, 5.298-second time has surpassed the previous record of seven minutes and 25.231 seconds set by the Tesla Model S Plaid electric sedan in early June.

The Nurburgring lap joins the title of the world's fastest electric production car – and the quickest-accelerating production vehicle, regardless of propulsion type – in the Rimac Nevera's trophy cabinet, the company says.

MORE: Video – Tesla Model S Plaid reclaims Nurburgring electric-car lap record from Porsche Taycan

It is not the quickest production car outright to lap the Nurburgring, which remains the Mercedes-AMG One hypercar – powered by a Mercedes Formula One engine – with a time of 6min 35.183sec.

And the fastest electric vehicle – not legal to drive on the road – to lap the circuit remains the Volkswagen ID.R racing prototype, with a lap time of 6min 5.336sec.

The 7min 5.298sec time was posted around the 20.832km layout of the iconic race track, which has been used for official lap timing – verified by Nurburgring officials, and government engineers who ensure the record vehicle is in showroom specification – since 2018.

Around the shorter 20.6km layout of the track – which does not include an additional 232m section of the final straight for a complete lap (starting and ending at the same point) – the Rimac's time was 7min 0.928sec.

The Rimac Nevera is powered by four electric motors developing 1427kW and 2360Nm – or close to 2000 horsepower – fed by a 120kWh battery pack.

While it is one of, if not the most powerful vehicle to set a lap record around the Nurburgring, it is one of the heaviest, weighing approximately 2300kg.

In records previously set by Rimac, the Nevera has been capable of 0-100km/h in 1.81 seconds – half the time it takes the quickest Tesla on sale in Australia to complete the same task – and a top speed of 412km/h.

The Nurburgring record vehicle wore Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R road-legal race-track tyres, and was driven by Croatian racing driver Martin Kodrić.

The Croatian hypercar start-up's record may put an end – for now – to a battle between Tesla and Germany's Porsche for the quickest electric production vehicle to lap the Nurburgring.

The two companies have set three official lap times between them – or four, if an unofficial Porsche lap set during development of the Taycan in 2019 is counted – and have shaved off about 20 seconds from their times.

There is a claim by Chinese electric-car start-up Nio of a 6min 45.90sec lap of the Nurburgring set in 2017 with its 1014kW EP9 electric hypercar, but it does not appear to have been verified by Nurburgring officials.

MORE: Video – Rimac Nevera hypercar sets road-legal electric vehicle record at Goodwood

At the time, the lap was claimed to be the fastest of any production car – whether powered by petrol or electricity.

However the EP9 is not believed to be legal for road use in China or overseas, and it is thought none of the 16 examples produced have ever left Chinese borders – so the Nio is not considered on the official electric-car Nurburgring scoreboard.

To celebrate the Nurburgring lap record – as well as other records set by the Nevera this year, including the fastest production car up the Goodwood hill-climb course in the UK – Rimac has announced a limited-edition Nevera 'Time Attack' model.

Limited to 12 examples, the changes to the Time Attack are visual only – with unique colour highlights over a black or bare carbon-fibre body, and the same accent colour on the wheels.

Other details include a black Alcantara and colour-accented interior, unique Time Attack stitching and interior engraving, and a message on the underside of the rear spoiler: "Dedicated to those coming after us."

The example that set the Nurburgring lap record – and the first customer-delivered Time Attack – carry Lightning Green highlights, said to be inspired by the colour of the BMW M3 that company founder Mate Rimac converted to battery power more than a decade ago, which set a record in 2012 for the world's quickest-accelerating electric vehicle.