INDEX / DIRECTORY / BUGATTI

Bugatti

Part of Volkswagen B
Car Manufacturers 91 CITED SOURCES UPDATED 2026-09-22 METHOD V6.5
Complicity Index score 732 /1000 B Tier B - Severe Group score - purchases fund Volkswagen.
Bugatti alone: 333/1000 D Tier D - Moderate
Military ↗ 1.25 Digital ↗ 0.00 Economic ↗ 3.82 Political ↗ 1.45
OWNERSHIP TREE 0 brands and group businesses View all

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Key Findings

  • Economic: Bugatti’s documented Israel/Palestine nexus is indirect: Porsche AG, its pending-divestment 45% co-owner, maintains Israeli technology investments including Porsche Digital Israel and minority positions in CyMotive and Tactile Mobility.1, 2
  • Political: Volkswagen Group’s Israel-linked fleet, policing and settlement-route activities concern Bugatti’s former parent and a minority-owner corporate group, not Bugatti’s own operations.3
  • Digital: A Rimac Group sibling, Verne, used Mobileye’s civilian autonomous-driving platform from 2024 into early 2025 before reporting indicated it had moved to Pony.ai by March 2026; this was not a direct Bugatti relationship.4, 5
  • Not found: No public evidence identified of Bugatti defence contracts, Israeli or settlement operations, military products, Israeli cloud infrastructure, or Bugatti-specific Israel/Palestine political advocacy.6, 7, 8

Target Profile

FieldDetail
Company NameBugatti / Bugatti Rimac d.o.o.
JurisdictionCroatia for Bugatti Rimac d.o.o.; Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. is the manufacturing entity in France.9
HeadquartersCroatia (the audits describe the joint venture as headquartered in Zagreb/Sveta Nedelja); Bugatti production remains in Molsheim, France.9, 10
SectorCivilian ultra-luxury hypercar manufacturing and automotive technology.9, 11
OwnershipBugatti Rimac has been held 55% by Rimac Group and 45% by Porsche AG. On 24 April 2026, Porsche agreed to sell both its Bugatti Rimac and Rimac Group holdings to a HOF Capital-led consortium in which BlueFive Capital is the largest investor; completion was expected before the end of 2026, subject to regulatory clearance.10, 12
Key Executives / GovernanceMate Rimac is founder/CEO of Rimac Group and CEO of Bugatti Rimac. The 2021 supervisory board included Porsche appointees Oliver Blume and Lutz Meschke; the post-transaction board had not been independently reconfirmed because the transaction remained pending.10, 13
Israeli-Nexus SummaryNo direct Bugatti Israel/Palestine operational nexus was identified; documented exposure is principally indirect through present or historical Porsche/Volkswagen-group relationships and a discontinued Mobileye relationship involving Rimac sibling Verne.2, 3, 4, 5

Key Facts:

Executive Summary

Bugatti is a civilian hypercar manufacturer operating through Bugatti Rimac d.o.o., with production through Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. in Molsheim, France. The evidence record does not identify a direct Bugatti contract, operational presence, dealership, showroom, service centre, defence product, or investment in Israel or the occupied Palestinian territory.6, 7, 8 Its products documented in the audits are civilian ultra-luxury hypercars, not tactical, dual-use, or military-specified vehicles.9

The strongest documented nexus is economic and structural rather than operational. Porsche AG, while still a 45% Bugatti Rimac co-owner pending completion of its announced 2026 divestment, has an Israeli technology-investment footprint: Porsche Digital Israel, a 40% interest in CyMotive Technologies, and minority investment in Tactile Mobility, among other portfolio activity. These are Porsche-level holdings, not holdings of Bugatti, Rimac Group, or Bugatti Automobiles.1, 2, 12 Volkswagen Group activities documented by Who Profits - including MAN chassis used in Israeli police water-cannon vehicles and MAN buses operating on Egged settlement routes - also concern Volkswagen Group and MAN, not Bugatti’s own operations.3

Digital evidence is similarly indirect. Bugatti Rimac uses Microsoft enterprise tools, while Rimac Technology uses Azure high-performance computing in work that supports Bugatti; the audit found no evidence that Bugatti’s tenant or data is hosted in, routed through, or accessible to Israeli infrastructure.14, 15 Separately, Verne, a Rimac Group sibling associated with Mate Rimac, announced a civilian Mobileye autonomous-driving collaboration in 2024. Reporting in March 2026 indicated that Verne had dropped Mobileye for Pony.ai. The audit treats this as a sibling-entity relationship, not a Bugatti relationship, and found no evidence of military targeting, Israeli-security deployment, or occupied-territory surveillance data.4, 5

Politically, no Bugatti-branded statement on Israel/Palestine, Gaza, or the West Bank was identified. Porsche and Volkswagen made statements and provided general humanitarian assistance at group level, but these statements are not Bugatti positions.16, 17 The resulting fixed, human-vetted V6.5 outcome is BRS 333, Tier D (Moderate Complicity), driven chiefly by indirect economic and political proximity through the current-but-pending-divestment Porsche/Volkswagen ownership chain, rather than verified direct Bugatti conduct.

Timeline of Relevant Events

DateEvent
1998Bugatti Automobiles became a Volkswagen AG subsidiary; this ownership relationship ended with the 2021 joint venture.10
2017Porsche opened a Tel Aviv innovation office and described investment activity through Magma Venture Partners and Grove Ventures.1
2018Volkswagen Group, Mobileye, and Champion Motors announced an investment to deploy an autonomous EV ride-hailing service in Israel.18
1 November 2021Bugatti Rimac began operating as a joint venture, 55% held by Rimac Group and 45% by Porsche AG.10
2022Porsche Digital and Porsche Ventures expanded Tel Aviv activities with a stated cybersecurity focus.2
22 October 2023Porsche AG and Volkswagen were among signatories to the German-industry “Never again is now” advertisement condemning Hamas’s 7 October attack while referring to civilian suffering in Israel and Gaza.17
November 2023Porsche announced a €1 million general Middle East humanitarian donation through Aktion Deutschland Hilft; it was not a Bugatti donation and did not name a party to the conflict.19
February–June 2024Verne announced and formally unveiled its civilian Mobileye Drive autonomous-vehicle collaboration.4
June 2024MAN’s Israeli representative submitted a bid in an Israeli Police tender for additional water-cannon vehicles; the audit did not independently confirm whether the tender was awarded.3
March 2026Reporting stated that Verne had moved from Mobileye to Pony.ai; neither company publicly explained the change.5
24 April 2026Porsche signed agreements to sell its 45% Bugatti Rimac stake and 20.6% Rimac Group stake to a HOF Capital-led consortium, subject to regulatory clearance and expected completion before year-end.12

Corporate Overview

Bugatti was founded in Molsheim, France in 1909 and refounded as Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. in 1998 under Volkswagen ownership. Since November 2021, Bugatti has operated through Bugatti Rimac d.o.o., a Rimac Group-controlled joint venture. The manufacturing entity remains Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. in Molsheim, while the joint venture is based in Croatia.9, 10

Rimac Group has held 55% of Bugatti Rimac and Porsche AG 45%. Porsche’s announced April 2026 sale of its entire Bugatti Rimac stake and its Rimac Group stake had not closed at the audit date. The announced buyers are a consortium led by New York-based HOF Capital, with Abu Dhabi-based BlueFive Capital described as its largest investor. No Israeli beneficial ownership or control was identified in the outgoing or announced incoming ownership structures.12

No public evidence identified of Bugatti offices, retail operations, authorised dealers, warehouses, support centres, tax registration, subsidiaries, franchisees, or settlement-based partners in Israel, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, or the Golan Heights.7, 8 No public evidence identified of a Bugatti Israeli entity or a direct Israeli franchise relationship.

Domain Summaries

Military: Military

Mechanism of Involvement

No public evidence identified of Bugatti, Bugatti Rimac, or Bugatti Automobiles as a contracting party with the Israeli Ministry of Defense, IDF, Israel Prison Service, Border Police, or a SIBAT-linked defence contractor directory.6 No public evidence identified of Bugatti military variants, export licences, end-user certificates, military logistics, Israeli defence-prime supply arrangements, weapons systems, munitions, or construction/infrastructure activity in occupied territory.6, 9

The military-adjacent evidence in the record concerns Volkswagen Group and MAN Truck & Bus. Who Profits documents MAN chassis in Israeli police and Border Police water-cannon vehicles, including vehicles used by the YASAM unit, and MAN buses used by Egged on routes serving West Bank and East Jerusalem settlements.3 These are group-level findings concerning a former parent and a minority shareholder’s wider corporate group, not evidence that Bugatti supplied, made, serviced, or controlled the relevant vehicles.

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

Bugatti’s strongest defence is substantial: it produces civilian hypercars only, not weapons, military vehicles, drones, tactical systems, construction machinery, or defence-grade components.9 Rimac Group has controlled Bugatti Rimac since formation, while Porsche’s 45% holding is non-controlling and subject to a fully announced divestment.10, 12 No public evidence identified of an operational connection between Bugatti and MAN, Traton, the Israeli military leasing fleet, Israeli police vehicles, or the water-cannon arrangements.6

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Digital: Digital

Mechanism of Involvement

Bugatti Rimac and Rimac Technology use Microsoft enterprise services: the audits identify a shared Microsoft 365 tenant, Teams onboarding for Bugatti Rimac staff, and Azure HPC use by Rimac Technology for engineering work supporting customers including Bugatti.14, 15 No public evidence identified of an Israeli cloud region, Project Nimbus participation, Israeli state cloud services, Israeli data-centre operations, direct Israeli cybersecurity vendor contract, biometrics deployment, or surveillance technology at Bugatti.7, 14

The relevant Israeli technology connection concerns Verne, a Rimac Group sibling entity, not Bugatti. Verne announced a civilian partnership with Jerusalem-based, Intel-owned Mobileye for Mobileye Drive, including sensor fusion and REM mapping, then reportedly changed to Pony.ai by March 2026.4, 5 The evidence does not identify Bugatti as a party to that arrangement.

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

The evidence supports technology-consumer status, not Bugatti provision of digital systems to Israel. Microsoft’s separately reported Israeli Ministry of Defense services are vendor-level context only; no public evidence identified that Bugatti Rimac’s Microsoft services, data, or tenant were connected to that Israeli work.14, 20 Mobileye’s relationship was civilian autonomous mobility, not a targeting or kill-chain system, and no public evidence identified that Verne’s use of REM involved Israeli or occupied-Palestinian surveillance data.4

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Economic: Economic

Mechanism of Involvement

No public evidence identified of direct Bugatti investment, procurement, sourcing, sales operation, dealer, office, R&D centre, capital holding, real estate, Israeli sovereign-debt activity, or occupied-territory commercial operation.7, 8 Bugatti is not an agricultural or consumer-goods distributor, and no evidence identified of Israeli or settlement-origin goods in its supply chain.7

The principal economic nexus is Porsche AG’s Israeli investment activity while Porsche remains a 45% Bugatti Rimac shareholder pending divestment. Porsche established a Tel Aviv innovation office, expanded activities through Porsche Digital and Porsche Ventures, wholly owns Porsche Digital Israel Ltd., holds a 40% position in CyMotive Technologies, and has a minority position in Tactile Mobility.1, 2, 21 These holdings are Porsche-level portfolio and corporate activity, not direct Bugatti investment.

Volkswagen Group’s wider Israel-related commercial activity is also relevant as historical and ownership-chain context. It includes vehicles supplied through Champion Motors to an Israeli military personnel leasing fleet, MAN chassis in water-cannon vehicles, settlement-route buses, and a 2018 Mobileye/Champion Motors ride-hailing initiative.3, 18 The reported 2026 Volkswagen/Rafael discussions over an Osnabrück Iron Dome-component facility did not proceed after a reported shareholder veto; in any case, this was a Volkswagen-level matter and not a Bugatti operation.22

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

Porsche’s Israeli technology investments are passive or corporate-group portfolio positions, not Bugatti Rimac assets, contracts, or operating facilities.1, 2 The announced 2026 transaction would end Porsche/Volkswagen’s equity position in Bugatti Rimac upon completion, though the closing remained pending at the audit date.12 The audit also found no Israeli ownership in Bugatti itself, no Bugatti revenue attributable to Israel, and no evidence of settlement sourcing or a Bugatti-specific market presence.7, 8

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Political: Political

Mechanism of Involvement

No official Bugatti-branded statement addressing Israel/Palestine, Gaza, or the West Bank was identified in the sources reviewed.16 No public evidence identified of Bugatti lobbying, anti-BDS certification, political donations, Friends of the IDF support, settlement financing, state partnerships, employee-speech actions, content moderation, or conflict-related corporate resource mobilisation.16

At ownership-chain level, Porsche and Volkswagen were signatories to the October 2023 “Never again is now” advertisement. Porsche subsequently announced €1 million in general Middle East humanitarian aid through Aktion Deutschland Hilft.17, 19 Volkswagen also funded an ADL office in Berlin as an antisemitism-combating initiative framed around its Nazi-era corporate history.23 These are corporate-family actions and positions; the record does not establish them as Bugatti statements, Bugatti donations, or Bugatti policy.

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

Bugatti’s clearest defence is that it made no identified public intervention on the conflict under its own brand.16 Porsche’s donation was general humanitarian assistance through a German relief organisation and did not identify a country, population, or party to the conflict.19 No public evidence identified of personal Israel/Palestine advocacy, donations, organisational roles, or settlement-linked activity by Mate Rimac or the named incoming HOF Capital principals.16

The company is also absent from the reviewed OHCHR settlement-business material, the Albanese report, and the reviewed Al-Haq publication material. These absences do not establish that no wider corporate-family nexus exists, but they weigh against claims of a directly documented Bugatti settlement operation.24, 25

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Complicity Index Score

Method: V6.5.

DomainIMPV-Domain Score
Military2.507.003.501.25
Digital0.000.000.000.00
Economic6.406.504.503.82
Political3.504.504.501.45

Economic is the maximum domain because the documented record establishes continuing Porsche-level Israeli technology investments while Porsche remained a Bugatti Rimac minority owner pending divestment. Political and Military reflect indirect corporate-chain exposure and documented Volkswagen-group conduct, tempered by the absence of direct Bugatti conduct and the separation/divestment evidence. The V6.5 method is scale-free, evidence-only, and human-vetted; it does not convert unverified, divested, wrong-entity, or merely associative allegations into direct company conduct.

Methodology Note

Footnotes

  1. https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/company/porsche-innovation-office-tel-aviv-israel-technology-trends-talent-meschke-13791.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  2. https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/2022/company/porsche-digital-porsche-ventures-cooperation-location-tel-aviv-investment-activities-cybersecurity-experts-30301.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  3. https://www.whoprofits.org/companies/company/7374 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  4. https://www.mobileye.com/news/verne-unveils-urban-mobility-service-driven-by-mobileye/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  5. https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/26/uber-invests-verne-ponyai-robotaxi-europe/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  6. https://newsroom.bugatti.com/en/press-releases/bugatti-rimac-bugatti-and-rimac-begin-cooperation-in-a-new-company ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  7. https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/companies/bugatti-automobiles-sas/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  8. https://www.bugatti.com/en/partners ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  9. https://www.rimac-newsroom.com/press-releases/rimac-automobili/rimac-automobili-and-bugatti-begin-operating-under-new-company-bugatti-rimac ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  10. https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/2021/company/porsche-bugatti-rimac-joint-venture-26260.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10

  11. https://www.rimac-newsroom.com/press-releases/rimac-technology/rimac-technology-powers-the-bugatti-tourbillon-with-cutting-edge-battery-and-powe ↩ ↩2

  12. https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/2026/company/porsche-bugatti-rimac-stakes-42221.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  13. https://newsroom.bugatti.com/en/press-releases/bugatti-rimac-bugatti-and-rimac-begin-cooperation-in-a-new-company ↩

  14. https://news.microsoft.com/en-cee/2022/04/21/rimac-technology-gains-scale-and-speed-with-azure-hpc-and-amd/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  15. https://www.syskit.com/products/point/case-studies/the-rimac-group-case-study/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  16. https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/companies/bugatti-automobiles-sas/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  17. https://www.timesofisrael.com/never-again-is-now-german-companies-condemn-hamas-terror-stand-with-israel/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  18. https://www.volkswagen-group.com/en/press-releases/volkswagen-mobileye-and-champion-motors-to-invest-in-israel-and-deploy-first-autonomous-ev-ride-hailing-service-16586 ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  19. https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/2023/company/porsche-middle-east-humanitarian-aid-34459.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  20. https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2025/09/25/update-on-ongoing-microsoft-review/ ↩ ↩2

  21. https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/2019/company/porsche-tactile-mobility-data-start-up-israel-19027.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  22. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-902126 ↩

  23. https://www.timesofisrael.com/volkswagen-funds-adl-office-in-germany-for-combating-anti-semitism-in-europe/ ↩ ↩2

  24. https://www.ohchr.org/en/business/bhr-database ↩

  25. https://www.alhaq.org/publications/26931.html ↩