There’s nothing more dangerous than a bored industrialist—especially when it comes to the world of cars. If there’s anything more certain than death and taxes, it’s that the idle rich will, given enough time alone with their thoughts, decide to create their own car. But for every Ferruccio Lamborghini, there are a dozen Malcolm Bricklins or John DeLoreans; the road to supercar greatness is paved with good intentions and inherently flawed, overbudget projects. You could be forgiven for betting against most inventors of home-grown supercars, with the notable exception of one man: Christian von Koenigsegg.
Koenigsegg founded his eponymous firm in 1994 and had produced his first supercar—the Koenigsegg CC—just three years later. But the Swede didn’t just have an incredible ability to turn ambition into action—he was also a true innovator whose company has since developed some of the most groundbreaking technology in the supercar sector. An incredible achievement when compared with dynasties such as Ferrari or Aston Martin, and the resources of fellow newcomers McLaren. Here are a few of our favourite pioneering Koenigsegg moments.
1. Autoskin
We open thousands of special cars each year at RM Sotheby’s, but none offer the same sense of amazement as the more recent designs from Koenigsegg. Forget fumbling around under the dashboard looking for a bonnet release or boot catch—the Koenigsegg Regera can be opened in its entirety at the click of a button thanks to its Autoskin technology.
Every moving panel, from the doors to the bonnet and engine cover, is hydraulically operated, utilising the existing nose-lift and spoiler’s pumps, fluid reservoir, and electronic control. There are proximity sensors too, so your doors won’t hit the roof in a tight underground car park, while pressure sensors stop the closing process should a safety belt or stray finger get in the way. All this for a weight penalty of just five kilograms. As far as party tricks go, this is one of the best.
2. 3D Printed Turbocharger
The size of a turbocharger’s housing tends to dictate its characteristics, with bigger housings producing more power at high rpm but being slow to spool up, with the opposite true of smaller turbines. Von Koenigsegg’s solution to this catch-22 was to house a smaller turbine within a larger housing, a simplified version of similar designs that allow the turbocharger to spool up quickly before a second chamber is utilised to reduce back pressure. The result is a broad power band and responsive throttle response relative to the size of the engine. From there, things get more interesting.
The complexity of the turbocharger’s structure proved too challenging for a typical casting process, so Koenigsegg turned to the latest 3D printing technology to produce each turbocharger from stainless steel. Incredibly, the turbo’s internal moving parts are printed at the same time as the housing. It was a cost-effective solution too, considering just seven examples of the landmark One:1 hypercar were built.
3. Aircore Hollow Carbon Fibre Wheels
Many companies have attempted to reinvent the wheel, but Koenigsegg actually managed it—quite literally. The firm has always placed great stock in carbon fibre for its light weight and huge strength, and in 2012, it applied the technology to its hypercars wheels. Previously formed in aluminium and already quite light, the company’s wheels were reimagined in carbon fibre using its patented Aircore technology. Each wheel was crafted in a single piece, with a hollow cavity that further reduced their weight. The result was a 20-kilogram reduction in un-sprung weight, a colossal figure in a car where margins are measured in microns and milliseconds, and a significant contributor to sharper steering response, more efficient braking, and quicker acceleration.
4. ‘Rocket’ Catalytic Converters
Catalytic converters are great for the environment, but they interfere with exhaust flow and rob an engine of power. This is especially true of today’s designs, which typically feature a smaller pre-cat for when the engine is cold, and a main cat for when things are nice and hot. The pre-cat—totally redundant once the engine has warmed up—restricts air flow before it reaches the main cat, sapping power even further. You won’t be surprised to hear that Koenigsegg has a brilliant solution.
Launched with the CCR, Koenigsegg’s ‘Rocket’ catalytic converters channel exhaust gasses through a pre-cat at startup. Crucially, air flow is then directed around the pre-cat and directly into the main converter once up to temperature. Engineers reckon the system is good for a staggering 100 horsepower gain compared with a conventional catalytic converter.
5. Dihedral Synchro-Helix Doors
Some of history’s most iconic cars have been characterised by their doors, the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL ‘Gullwing’, Lamborghini Countach, and Lincoln Continental to name a few. Whether suicide, butterfly, or scissor, you could be forgiven for thinking that you’d seen it all when it comes to a car’s apertures. Step forward Mr Koenigsegg…
Realising that butterfly and scissor doors often open too high, causing problems in garages with low ceilings, Koenigsegg devised a unique and relatively simple system that enables the door to open both outwards and upwards at the same time. The Dihedral Synchro-Helix mechanism is incredibly practical, as anyone lucky enough to have used it will tell you. It also looks so, so cool.
6. Triplex Suspension
Anyone who’s hit the gas hard in a rear-wheel-drive car will know that the back end can have tendency to squat down at launch. Great for traction, but the unsettling of the car’s natural balance and the inevitable lifting of the front end can result in unpredictable handling. If it’s noticeable in an average road car, you can only imagine the potential in a hypercar with more than 1,150 horsepower.
Koenigsegg’s solution is immediately obvious the moment you open the rear clam. A third ‘Triplex’ damper runs transversely across the back of the engine bay and provides resistance when both rear dampers try to compress at once, fighting against the forces that cause the rear to squat. Cleverly, the third damper does nothing when only one rear damper compresses, for example, during hard cornering.
7. Direct Drive Transmission
The conventional gearbox is a neat solution to an interesting mechanical problem, but it adds weight, reduces efficiency, and saps power. For the Koenigsegg Regera, engineers got around this problem by skipping the gearbox entirely, instead fitting the firm’s Direct Drive Transmission, providing direct drive from the car’s internal combustion engine to the rear axle. In essence, the car is always in seventh gear, and because it has so much power—enough in fact to spin its wheels at 160 mph—there would be no advantage to be gained from a conventional transmission with higher gearing. Of course, none of this would be possible without another nifty piece of engineering…
8. HydraCoup
Koenigsegg’s Direct Drive Transmission is a masterpiece of engineering, but it wouldn’t be anywhere near as effective without another Swedish innovation that forms a vital component in the Regera’s drivetrain: HydraCoup.
Acting as a torque converter—albeit a hugely advanced one—HydraCoup serves as the lynchpin between the Regera’s combustion engine, electric motors, and driveline. When accelerating from a standstill, the Koenigsegg’s electric motors provide the initial torque at launch, acting in a similar manner to the lower gears of a conventional gearbox. As speeds increase, HydraCoup cleverly feathers in power from the car’s thumping 5-litre V-8, eventually locking so that the full power of the combustion powertrain can be directed to the rear wheels.
9. Flex Fuel Sensor
Koenigsegg’s proprietary 5-litre V-8 engine is a thing of beauty, capable of producing as much as 1,300 horsepower while only tipping the scales at around 200 kilograms—and it’s bristling with technology. The engine has been tweaked over the years, with one of the most interesting innovations coming in the form of the firm’s ‘Flex’ fuel sensor.
With the notable exception of Agera S owners (don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll cope), the cars in the Koenigsegg range all feature the new technology, which allows the engine to run on normal petrol, E85 biofuel—a potent petrol cocktail containing up to 85 per cent ethanol—or a combination of both. The fuel sensor is capable of assessing the fuel makeup in real time, allowing the compression rate and ignition timing to be suitably adjusted. Run the car on E85 and you won’t only be doing your bit for the environment—it also offers a marked increase in total power.
10. Z-Shaped Anti-Roll Bar
The idea of a torsion bar has been around for a long time—Ferrari incorporated the technology in its road-going 275 GTB back in 1966. But it’s the materials used and specific setup of Koenigsegg’s design, which features on the Agera RS, Regera, and Jesko, that really impresses.
Instead of the more conventional dual pivot points of a traditional anti-roll bar, Koenigsegg pioneered a Z-shaped design with a single pivot point, a central steel section, and two outer sections made from lightweight carbon fibre. That makes it both responsive and progressive, as well as being 80 per cent lighter than a typical anti-roll bar.
