The Rimac Nevera electric hypercar has set a new world record for the fastest speed achieved by a production car in reverse, reaching 275.74kph. The run took place at the Automotive Testing Papenburg Centre in Germany, which has two 4km straights and is often used for high-speed development by manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen.

Matija Renić, chief engineer for the Nevera said, “It occurred to us during development that Nevera would probably be the world’s fastest car in reverse, but we kind of laughed it off. The aerodynamics, cooling and stability hadn’t been engineered for travelling backwards at speed, after all."

Rimac test driver Goran Drndak, who took the Nevera on the record-setting run spoke of how demanding it was to manage each and every variable, from moving the steering wheel gently so as to not upset the car's balance to being mindful of his braking point and keeping an eye on his speed.

The Nevera was able to post this time thanks to its lack of gears; its four electric motors mounted at each wheel. It had previously broken more than 20 acceleration and braking records in a single day.

Rimac Nevera EV price, powertrain, battery and range

The Rimac Nevera costs €2 million (Rs 17.84 crore) and the four motors make a combined 1,914hp and 2,369Nm of torque. The Nevera comes with a 120kWh battery pack, which gives it a WLTP-rated range of 490km. An onboard Nvidia supercomputer calculates the torque sent to each wheel about 100 times a second.