With his eyes on the American market, Christian von Koenigsegg took to the stage at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show to unveil a mid-engined sports car that would be compliant with stringent U.S. safety and emissions standards. The CCX shown to the world that day in March was the result of an audacious decades-long effort to defeat the odds and turn a fledgling company into a successful supercar builder with staying power. The X in its name signified the 10th anniversary of the first trial of the Koenigsegg CC (short for Competition Coupe), about two years after Christian von Koenigsegg first founded his eponymous company.

The first production Koenigsegg arrived in 2002 as the C8S, a hand-built supercar with a chassis composed of Formula 1-grade carbon fiber-reinforced Kevlar and honeycomb aluminum. The dihedral synchro-helix actuating doors that would become a Koenigsegg trademark were one of many technological standouts, though they did not overshadow its ferocious 4.6-liter twin-supercharged V-8. The CC8S was succeeded by the CCR, which boasted more than 800 hp, but Christian von Koenigsegg’s sights remained on a viable global-market supercar.

Though the CCX shared its basic proportions with the cars that came before, it was a dramatically different vehicle where it mattered most. The astonishingly low .30 coefficient of drag was due in part to the flat underside and venturi tunnels that hurtled air around the low-slung car. From a practical standpoint, the interior was reconfigured to allow for more head room for helmeted drivers on track. Its new, all-aluminum twin-supercharged 4.7-liter V-8 engine was designed in house rather than using a Ford base as before. With 806 hp on tap, it produced similar power to the CCR while running on pump gas and meeting emissions standards in the U.S. When the CCX hit the track, it smashed a host of Guinness World Records and carved a prominent place in the annals of supercars.

The CCX offered here is especially significant in the way that it helped Christian von Koenigsegg fulfill his dream. This black CCX with its six-speed manual transmission was the first American-specification car delivered to a U.S. customer. It retains its dark silver Dymag wheels and matching “Top Gear” rear wing. Koenigsegg technicians at Ferrari of Scottsdale upgraded the engine output from 806 to 980 horsepower, making it unimaginably fast in the right hands. This first U.S.-market CCX has covered just over 1,000 miles and is ready to be enjoyed as its maker intended, at great speed.