PROFILE Laying the golden Egg

BUILDING THE WORLD’S FASTEST STREET-LEGAL AND NAMING IT AFTER YOURSELF MUST BE AN ACT OF SUPREME VANITY.ALEXANDER FARNSWORTH SPEEDS ALONG WITH

CHRISTIAN VON AND FINDS A HUMBLE, SOFT- SPOKEN CARMAKER WHO HAS DEFIED ALL ODDS TO FULFILL HIS BOYHOOD DREAM PICTURES BY PER MORTEN ABRAHAMSEN PROFILE

he Koenigsegg CCR, or The Egg as the motor press so supercar market dominated by the likes of Lamborghini, Ferrari, aptly calls it, is technically designed to reach a speed of McLaren, Pagani and others. And since both Volvo and Saab are 395 kilometers an hour although there is no racetrack respectively owned by General Motors and Ford, The Egg remains in the world capable of handling such extreme speeds. the only true Swedish car. The Egg But that’s beside the point. The Egg is simply the The Egg is a fire-breathing dragon. Low to the ground for aero- fastest supercar in series production. It easily hits 340 dynamic reasons and built with the most advanced carbon-fiber NAME | Christian von Koenigsegg tkilometers an hour and does 100 kilometers an hour in 3.2 seconds materials available, the car packs a punch. Extreme and sexy, it BORN | 1972 in on any road. Reviewing its forerunner – the CC8S model – last belongs on a James Bond movie set. In fact, The Egg does star in a FAMILY | Wife Halldora and son Sebastian year, The Sunday Times wrote:“The result is, quite simply, the fastest movie. In May last year the Gumball 3000, a trans-American road PROFESSION | Supercar manufacturer road car in the world – Ferrari and Lamborghini should be afraid. race from to , was filmed by helicopter and EDUCATION | Baccalaureate from the Very afraid,”and gave it a five-star rating. Jeremy Clarkson, Britan’s more than 100 cameras and released as Gumball 3000: The Movie Scandinavian School of top motoring correspondent, considers The Egg his new favorite just a couple of months ago. One of the reckless contenders was a CAREER | Started an import/export business supercar.“This is what the game is all about,”he said in November young, rich, foul-mouthed car enthusiast from who importing frozen chickens from the U.S. last year. entered the race with his brand new Koenigsegg. He was allegedly to Estonia. “But chickens were not my After seven years of prototype work while living on venture cap- clocked doing 389 kilometers an hour (almost four times the speed passion,” he says. He has been working ital and family money, Christian von Koenigsegg delivered seven limit) in but managed to talk his way out of a speeding tick- on The Egg full-time since 1995 cars and presold another two years’ production at 528,275 dollars et. Nevertheless, the third time the highway patrol stopped him, he HOBBIES | Koenigsegg says he used to have a lot a pop. No one thought this day would come. was busted and sent to prison, making headlines in the San Fran- of hobbies such as sailing, skiing and golf, but “One of my strong points is that I tend to convert skeptics into cisco Chronicle, Times and Miami Herald. since he has been working 130 percent on his believers,”Koenigsegg muses in a rare moment of self-congratula- The car also ran into trouble. The Koenigsegg leaked two to car the past seven years these activities have tion.“In the beginning, people thought I was crazy. To make a car three liters of oil before the rally even got underway. Then it blew fallen by the wayside. He does, however, admit so advanced in a country like Sweden was an impossible dream.” its fanbelt, overheated, and had problems with the clutch. However, that he is sometimes inspired to write poetry. Extreme sports cars are usually associated with Italy or , the car’s owner had a service truck follow him during the rally and None of it has been published yet not Sweden. While Sweden has a car-building tradition with Saab managed to get it fixed every time. The vehicle was impounded on ESTIMATED COMPANY TURNOVER IN 2004 | Seven and Volvo, neither manufacturer has ventured into the extreme day five in . million dollars

Another tale making the rounds was that the driver apparently evokes a champagne lifestyle Koenigsegg doesn’t live except blew the car’s oil gasket, and the only replacement part he could when he’s visiting a client/dealer in Dubai, for example. But that’s find was at a nearby dealer. But the part the dealer had was in a new business. car. So the man bought the car and took only the gasket. According to his friend David Crafoord, an industrial designer Such stories, true or false, add to The Egg’s mythology and fuel who helped out with The Egg, the one thing Koenigsegg is pas- people’s desire to own a Koenigsegg – the best free advertising you sionate about is, of course, cars. can get as a car manufacturer in remote Sweden. “You can’t stop him,”Crafoord says.“With Christian, you party The supercar was originally assembled at a small thatched- till two in the morning and talk about nothing but cars. Then he » roofed farmhouse near Helsingborg in southern Sweden. Car & Driver magazine said it looked as though Pippi Longstocking had just moved out, a comparison that irks Koenigsegg as Pippi is not known for being tidy. In February 2003, one of Koenigsegg’s facil- The CCR ities was damaged in a fire. Mostly office space and equipment were | Supercharged V8 destroyed but also a part of the production line. The incident POWER | 806 hp showed that Koenigsegg isn’t just another business, let alone an TORQUE | 920 Nm exclusive one; it’s a community concern. Along with the staff sal- ACCELERATION | 0-100 km/h 3.2 seconds vaging whatever they could – including two cars! – were a TOP SPEED | 395 km/h. According to the Guinness Book of municipal commissioner, neighboring companies and, of course, World Records it’s the most powerful production car in the firefighters. world, ousting the McLaren F1 The construction facilities were moved the same evening to the CHASSIS | Carbon fiber semi- former JAS 39 Gripen hangars in the area. Both stirred and shak- BODY | Carbon fiber, Kevlar en, Koenigsegg still managed to participate at the Geneva Motor AERODYNAMICS | 0.297 Cd Show the following week. WEIGHT | 1,180 kilos PRICE | 528,275 dollars AS A PERSON, CHRISTIAN VON KOENIGEGG IS as mild man- TRIVIA | The Koeningsegg CC8S starred in Gotham Racing 2 nered as his car is wild. He says he is a hard-working family man. by Microsoft and appeared in Gumball 3000: The Movie His Icelandic wife handles the company’s administration. The Egg

NOVEMBER 2004 SCANORAMA 5 PROFILE

» brings you back to his office where he makes you watch a video Practical and pragmatic like most Swedes, Koenigsegg drove from Jaguar’s factory. And then it’s more car talk till 5 am. He has every fast car he could get hold of to find out what was missing, or enormous enthusiasm and, despite being a little wet behind the ears what he could add. He pored over every car magazine he could at the beginning, he has shown an ability for innovation that few read. He studied the supercar market knowing full well that people have.” prospective buyers already had everything they wanted. The idea was to offer something no one else had. ONLY 32,KOENIGSEGG IS ALREADY THE BOSS OF 30 employees. “They may already have a Ferrari or two in the garage and just Bald from a disorder known as alopecia in which the body rejects want an extra car with extreme driving qualities and better its own hair follicles, Koenigsegg cuts an unusual profile on the ergonomics. Or maybe they want a more discreet and understated Swedish business scene. In fact, the egg metaphor isn’t so far off. He car like ours. Not so flashy but with more technology.A Nokia with looks like one. an Ericsson shell, if you will,”Koenigsegg says. Profiled extensively in the Swedish press, usually as a dreamer, Making the fastest car in the world was the first marketing hook. Koenigsegg is nevertheless a typical entrepreneur. His goal is to That required years of engine development. Next came the remov- make money in one of the world’s able hard top, which fits snugly most established markets. And it under the hood. Some Ferraris also looks like he is succeeding. Last have this feature, but it takes a year the company actually made a mechanic the better part of a day to profit. dismount it. On The Egg the whole “Do you mind if we drool a lit- procedure takes five minutes, plus tle?”asks a delivery man upon see- you take it with you. ing The Egg at an emissions test With speed and the removable facility outside Stockholm.“Not at hard top, Koenigsegg had a super- all,”Koenigsegg replies.As an aside, car that was truly unique. With he says: “This car has to do this, some clever marketing at the Gene- otherwise I’d be worried.” va and automobile shows, and

“Getting behind the wheel of a car makes you feel like God”

A second-generation entrepre- a prototype viewing at the Cannes neur from a well-to-do family (his Film Festival in 1997, The Egg mother makes hats for Queen Sil- became an object of desire, attract- via of Sweden), Koenigsegg has ing clients from Scandinavia, the dreamed of building his own car U.S., Great Britain, , Italy, since the age of six when he saw a Austria, Spain, Lebanon, Dubai and film about a bicycle repairman who Korea. The price of the car includes built a car to race at Le Mans. His a two-day course in how to drive it, dream was interrupted by normal from the legendary Loris Biocchi, a teenage years in Stockholm and Bugatti test driver based in Mode- several years of business studies in na, Italy, who flies to Ängelholm in Brussels. Then came a stint in the export/import business selling southern Sweden whenever needed. frozen American chickens to Estonia, where it seems he cashed out But why are cars so fascinating for Koenigsegg? “Getting behind with a pocket full of money. the wheel of a car makes you feel like God,”he says unabashedly. But the car bug festered. In 1994, he developed his first proto- “As the trees are flying past you, you are moving the world around type.As word got round that a young Swede was building a super- you–not moving the car. You are at the center of the universe car to unseat the McLaren F1, the reigning speed champion, help because you are moving the world around you at will with pedals from some significant contacts was on its way. and the . You don’t get that feeling of control when First came a 1.5-million-kronor grant from the Swedish Board you ride a train or a bus. Of course, no one is ever in full control. of Technical Development. Then Kjell Nilsson, a former vice-pres- Everything is chaos. But that’s why the feeling is nice. And it does- ident of Electrolux, signed on as chairman for a while, opening n’t hurt if it’s the fastest car in the world, either.” doors to Swedish industry.Volvo chipped in with wind tunnel and ALEXANDER FARNSWORTH track time. Suppliers and engineers lined up to help develop Swe- is a freelance writer based in Stockholm. He is currently shopping around for den’s first supercar. “Strangers would walk in the door and ask, the fastest street-legal electric scooter. Please send him your tips. ‘How can I help?’And they would write a check,”Koenigsegg says. [email protected]

6 SCANORAMA NOVEMBER 2004 MARCH 2004 SCANORAMA 7