A man who visited Bugatti’s facility in Croatia seeking employment has been arrested in Austria after allegedly stealing the company chief executive’s £2m luxury car by finding its keys inside.
The suspect, a Croatian man in his mid-30s, reportedly drove away in the Bugatti Chiron after discovering that the keys had been left in the vehicle at the company’s production and technology campus near Zagreb.
Bugatti CEO, Mate Rimac, disclosed the incident in an Instagram post on Thursday, saying the car was recovered by Austrian police after he personally pursued the suspect and helped officers track the vehicle.
Rimac admitted that his habit of leaving keys inside his cars had contributed to the theft, adding that he would no longer take such a risk.
“I’m so proud of Croatia being so safe that I’m very relaxed, meaning I always leave my keys inside my cars, including Chiron and Nevera,” he said.
“I did that for years and nothing ever happened, of course, until something did happen now, so I will not do that anymore and don’t try your luck.”
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The CEO explained that leaving the keys inside was also a matter of convenience, as it allowed workers to move his vehicles without having to contact him whenever necessary.
He said he was often busy and preferred to make the cars easily accessible to employees.
The theft was discovered on Wednesday, prompting Rimac, who also founded and heads the Rimac Group, to pursue the stolen vehicle in a Porsche 911.
He contacted the police and used the Chiron’s telemetry tracking system to establish its location, informing officers that the vehicle was heading towards neighbouring Slovenia.
Austrian police eventually located and arrested the suspect, with information supplied by Rimac through a group chat helping officers follow the vehicle's movements.
The CEO later met the suspect at a police station in Austria, where the man reportedly explained that he had visited the company looking for a job but decided to take the vehicle after seeing its keys inside.
Rimac said he would not personally press charges against the suspect. However, he acknowledged that prosecution was likely because of the enormous value of the stolen vehicle.
He also disclosed that he had wanted to give the suspect a lift home to his family but was prevented from doing so by the police.
CCTV footage of the theft and photographs of Rimac with Austrian police officers were also shared on his Instagram account.
The Bugatti Chiron, described by the manufacturer as the “ultimate hyper sports car”, was launched in 2016 with a starting price of £2m.
The high-performance vehicle can reach speeds of up to 420 kilometres per hour.
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