The head of the luxury car-maker Bugatti, Mate Rimac, has pledged to stop leaving his keys inside his vehicles following the theft of his £2 million Bugatti Chiron from a company production campus near Zagreb on Wednesday. The CEO, who is a Croatian citizen born in Bosnia, posted on Instagram on Thursday that police in Austria had recovered the car after he chased the thief in a Porsche 911.
In an Instagram video standing in front of the recovered car, Mr Rimac said he was "so proud of Croatia being so safe" but admitted he had always left his keys inside his cars, including both the Chiron and the Nevera, for years out of convenience so workers could move them without contacting him.
"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," he said.
CCTV footage of the theft and images of Mr Rimac with Austrian police officers were also shared on his account. Once the theft was discovered at the company's production and technology campus near Zagreb, Mr Rimac set off after the thief in a Porsche 911 and used the Chiron's telemetry system to trace its location, telling officers it was being driven towards neighbouring Slovenia.
Officers found and arrested the suspect in Austria, helped by updates shared by Mr Rimac in a group chat. The CEO met the suspect, a Croatian man in his mid-30s, at a police station in Austria. The man explained he had come to the company looking for a job and took the car after seeing the keys inside.
Though Mr Rimac said he would not be pressing charges, he warned the suspect would be prosecuted due to the car's high value. He also wanted to give the man a lift home to his family but was not allowed to by the police.
The Bugatti Chiron, described on the Bugatti website as the "ultimate hyper sports car," was launched in 2016, has a base price of £2 million and can reach speeds of 420 kilometres per hour.