Test driver Goran Drndak reached a speed of 275.74kph while driving a Rimac Nevera at the Automotive Testing Papenburg facility in Germany. The previous record of 165.08kph was set in 2001 with a Caterham 7 Fireblade.
Showcasing its rather unnecessary feat, Rimac admitted it embarked on one of the wackier automotive record attempts more or less for a laugh.
"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," said Rimac engineer Matija Renic. "But then, we started to talk about how much fun it would be to give it a shot".
Unlike an internal combustion engine car, the drivetrain of the Nevera has no gears – the four individual motors either go backwards or forwards.
That means that the same powertrain, which is capable of delivering 0-160kph in 3.21 seconds or 0-320kph in just under 11 seconds forward, could also deliver similar earth-shattering performance travelling backwards.
Each of the record-breaking achievements was undertaken by a Nevera in a special livid green livery, which was launched officially in a limited run of just 12 examples.
Rimac is based on the outskirts of Zagreb with locations around Europe.
