What does the age or nationality of the founder have to do with it? Do cars go less fast in Croatia?

The obvious, I think: Croatia is small and doesn't have much of a car industry, nor of a history of tech development.

>doesn't have much of a car industry

Rimac is focused on electric car part development like electro-hydraulic brake system. You don't have to have assembly lines for that.

>no history of tech development

Croatia has Rimac and Infobip, which puts them above average unicorn per capita in EU. Companies are succeeding in spite of leftover corruption from commie times.

> nor of a history of tech development

Oh, it has a very long history of tech development, including that one guy whose name was stolen for that other overvalued EV company.

I haven't seen much of that history, and Tesla might have been born in current Croatia, but was ethnically a Serb, but most importantly, he did most of his work in the US. I think that's what makes that car company more remarkable: talented tech/entrepeneur doesn't go to the States.

> most importantly, he did most of his work in the US

That is correct, and I agree that it's most important -- his ethnicity is completely irrelevant (no more than Steve Jobs's Syrian one) and his place of birth just slightly more, as it defined where he went for education (Graz and Prague) and early work (Budapest and Paris, which led directly to his move to the US).

> I haven't seen much of that history

Which is fair, especially considering the fact that it wasn't a separate country for most of its history. But things like electric speedometer, military torpedo, rubber hot water bottle and a few others came from there.

I'd argue the company would be less remarkable if it was founded by an 50 year old ex-BMW manager in Bavaria.

Mate Rimac is an impressive man, have a look here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_Rimac

Who’s also now the CEO of Bugatti Rimac, a new JV between Porsche, Bugatti, and Rimac.

I will just put this here: https://youtu.be/WAf1_zWThyE?t=526

Who started his company at 23.

Gordon Murray built his first car in his early twenties.

Koenigsegg founded his company when he was in his early twenties.

Don't be fooled by these headlines. His father is known for close ties with the ruling party and was/is under investigation for all sorts of laundering and land schemes. I would not be surprised if some of that money ended up as a seed for the company and car development.