asa teenager.Thesonof entrepreneurialparents,
asayoungadulthesoldplasticbagsand frozen
chickens toex-Soviet states.
In 1994,hisdream tobuildahypercar seemed
almost laughable. “Iwasayoungkid inSweden,with
nobackground in thisarea. It’snotacountrywith
an infrastructure formaking luxuryextreme-sports
cars. Ididn’thaveenoughfinancing. I remember
saying tomyself this iscompletely impossible.”
Later thatyear,however, aged just22,heanda
partnerwonaNOK1.5milliongovernmentgrant
tobuildaprototype.Theymoved intoaworkshop
inOlofström,nextdoor toVolvo–andKoenigsegg
pickedup twooldslide-ruledesks for free (Volvowas
goingdigital).Nowhe justneededa team.
“Oneguywasdrivinga forkliftnextdoorandhad
asemi-finishedengineeringdegreeandhis father
wasadraughtsmanatVolvo. I started tellinghim
mydesignsandhestarteddrawing them.Aftera few
monthsofme instructinghim, plus readingbooks
on thesubject, Igotquitegoodatdrawing too.”
Thebiggest step forwardcame inhiring
engineerandprogrammerDagBölenius,whowrote
abespokechassis-handlingsimulationprogram.
“Wemanaged tofindgeometrychassisdataoncars
suchas theFerrariF40,McLarenF1andFordGT40.
Wepunched inmass, centreofgravity, tyrespec
andweightdistribution tohelpusunderstand the
philosophiesused– thenwecameupwithourown.”
Everythingwasdrawnandsculptedbyhand,
usingwoodenand resinmodels.Theprototypehad
acarbon-fibrefloorpanandspace-frame tubes to
reduceweight in thebody, and itwasfittedwithan
Audi4.2V8engineand transaxle.Thismid-engined
supercarwas to forge thebrand’sdesignDNA: a
coupéwithdetachable roof anddihedral synchro-
helixdoors (that swivel 90degrees).
Koenigsegg took theprototype to theCannes
FilmFestival, andhesoonbuiltacult following.
Subsequentcars featuredon the likesof
TopGear
.
Now, 20years later, the formula thathis
inexperienced teamdevelopedstill forms thebasis
»
Koenigsegg’sproduction line in
Ängelholm, Sweden
Koenigsegg innumbers
1994
103
122
5
300 400 0 300
kph
11.9
sec
300 0
kph
5.9
sec
Year started
Cars produced
Female customers
Deceleration
Accelerationof
fastest car (One:1)
Hours of polishing
per car before
delivery
Number of staff
FREEVALVE
074\
n
