20 Things You Didn’t Know About Koenigsegg
If you’re a car lover, especially for cars that go fast and look great, you might already know something about the company Koenigsegg. However, there’s a fairly decent chance that you’ve never even heard of the company if you’re not really focused on performance automobiles. The truth is, this is a company that is worth knowing something about, whether you consider yourself a real car buff or not. Below are 20 things about this sports car manufacturer based in Sweden that you probably don’t already know. Once you find out more about the company, you’re likely to have a desire to learn as much as you possibly can about them, even if you can only fantasize about actually driving one of its unique automobiles.
1. The company was actually founded several years ago
This company certainly hasn’t been around for as long as most automobile manufacturers, but it’s not new to the process either. It was founded back in 1994. Since that time, the company has produced a number of different models of performance automobiles. One thing is certain, everything that is produced by this particular company is extremely unique in the way it looks and how it performs. There is nothing average or mundane about anything that comes from Koenigsegg.
2. Some of the cars are street legal
Even though the company started in 1994, it took a long time to develop the first street legal automobile. In fact, the CC8S didn’t come along until 2002. While not all of the automobiles produced by Koenigsegg are street legal, most are. With that being said, every country has its own rules and regulations considering the automobile manufacturing process. As a direct result, some of the cars produced by Koenigsegg are street legal in certain countries and not in others. It wasn’t until much later in the company’s history that a car that would be street legal all over the world would be developed.
3. They create and install their own engines
While the company was working on the CCX, which came along in 2006, they decided that it would be best if they created their own engines for their automobiles as opposed to using subcontractors to build them. Because of this decision, they started working on designing their own engines and creating innovative solutions to common problems that can sometimes hamper the performance of race cars. This resulted in engines that are extremely efficient and can perform better than virtually anything else out there. Since then, they have been building all of their engines in house. They also have a team dedicated to researching and developing new engines for future automobiles..
4. They’ve been featured in Forbes Magazine
In 2009 the company made one of the Forbes Magazine lists for the most beautiful car in the world. Anyone that has ever seen a picture of any automobile produced by this company would likely agree with this assumption. These cars don’t look like your typical sports car, to say the least. Instead, they look like the perfect fusion of a high-performance race car and a state-of-the-art luxury automobile. There is nothing like them on the market, so once you do see what one looks like, you’re not likely to ever forget it.
5. The company isn’t just interested in manufacturing cars
This is a company that has a conscience, and no one would argue that fact. While their main business is performance automobiles, that is certainly not the only thing that they’re interested in. In fact, this is a company that tirelessly works to protect the environment by creating more efficient engines as well as automobiles that are capable of operating with different types of power systems. Many agree that they’re leading the way when it comes to producing high-performance automobiles that don’t pollute the environment like the ones that are currently mass-produced.
6. They’re also in the electric car business
Because they are so concerned with protecting the environment, Koenigsegg also works to produce many of these systems for electric cars and electric hybrids. You might be interested to know that the daily driver that you chose to purchase because you wanted to protect the environment has an electrical system made by one of the most exclusive car companies in the world. In many cases, they have transformed the way that automobiles are powered and they’re working to develop even more innovative solutions to the common problems that have been plaguing the automobile industry for years.
7. They’re developing entirely new engines
The company is working on engines that operate much differently from anything that’s ever been seen before. They’re taking into account the fact that high-performance automobiles typically create a lot of pollution, even today. By the same token, automobiles that are more environmentally friendly don’t usually have any chance of making the record books when it comes to performance. The company is working to fuse these two things together in order to create a high-performance automobile that is capable of breaking records virtually everywhere it goes without polluting the environment. There is no doubt that other car companies all over the world will be able to benefit from the research that they’re currently conducting.
8. They do virtually everything themselves
This is not a company that likes the idea of subcontracting any of its work to another company. Instead, they far prefer to be in charge of everything they do so they know the end result is one of quality. As a result, they don’t just work on manufacturing engines for their automobiles, but virtually everything that is incorporated into them. This is something that is extremely rare in the automobile industry but it certainly seems to be working for Koenigsegg. It’s one of the reasons that they’re able to maintain such high levels of quality when it comes to the automobiles they produce. They don’t have to worry about answering questions that center around the potential failure of a third party’s product.
9. The company’s founder is still active
Unlike so many other corporations that see someone develop a company and then sit back while everyone else runs it, the founder of Koenigsegg is still active. He goes to work just like everyone else that works there and spends nearly every day working to develop new and innovative solutions that allow automobiles to move forward with new technology. He’s extremely involved in day-to-day operations and works mainly toward developing new solutions to old problems.
10. They have a dedicated department of engineers
This is a relatively small company that has just under 100 employees. Out of that number, a full quarter of them work in a dedicated engineering department which is headed up by the founder of the corporation. The company has always been focused on developing high-performance automobiles and creating solutions to help cars perform better while simultaneously leaving a smaller carbon footprint. This is something the engineering department works on without ceasing. They’ve already developed a number of interesting vehicles and there’s no sign they’ll be slowing down anytime in the near future.
11. They conduct extensive testing
One of the reasons that this car company is known for such a high level of quality is because they don’t let anything leave their side until they’re certain that there are no more problems to be worked out. They don’t rush production of anything and they don’t cut corners in order to make it cheaper when it comes to manufacturing. The company focuses on quality and it refuses to let anything be sold until they’re certain that it is capable of performing to a certain level. As such, prototypes are built and extensive testing is conducted. Many people have described the type of testing that goes on there as being much more like testing experimental military aircraft as opposed to testing an automobile. Obviously, this type of approach has been successful. Unlike most other car companies, Koenigsegg has not been in the media for producing automobiles that are not capable of performing as advertised.
12. The company is based on an airfield
The corporation didn’t start out in this particular location but once it moved there, it was obvious that this particular location has some distinct advantages. These cars are not sold to the general public. These are exclusive automobiles that are built by hand and are only sold to individuals that have the means to purchase such a fine example of workmanship. Since the company is based at an airfield, people can fly in and see the cars for themselves, not to mention getting a tour of the factory and the testing facilities. At the same time, the company utilizes an abandoned airstrip for testing, making this a near-perfect location for everything the company is involved in.
13. These cars are unique
It’s already been mentioned that these cars don’t look like anything else available on the market. They’re both futuristic and beautiful at the same time. Obviously, they don’t perform like anything else on the market, either. One of the things that is most unique about them is the way you gain access to them. When the car is buttoned up, it looks like it could practically take flight. When all of the different compartments are opened up, you see an automobile that opens like a hatchback to expose the engine compartment. Furthermore, the entire passenger compartment opens from the top and swings toward the front of the car to expose the whole compartment at once.
14. The company doesn’t mass-produce automobiles
The truth is, this company only builds a few cars per year. If you look at the example of its newest automobile, only 30 such cars are planned. This is not a company that mass produces cars and then puts them in a showroom. Instead, it is one that works endlessly to create something entirely different and then build a prototype that is thoroughly tested and made for sale. Once orders start to roll in, additional examples of that particular prototype are produced. Throughout the company’s history, only a few examples of each model have ever been made. The 30 planned examples of its newest automobile marks the largest number of a single model that has ever been made by the company.
15. Records are made to be broken
Most car manufacturers can only dream of breaking speed and performance records of all kinds. Koenigsegg has actually done it. As a matter of fact, they have so many speed and performance records to their credit that there are simply too many to list. This is something that most high-end automobile makers are envious of, to say the least.
16. They also have a number of awards
The car company has a list of awards for workmanship, quality and performance that is almost as long as the list of records the cars have broken. There is no doubt that this particular automobile manufacturer has made a name for themselves when it comes to doing things in an unorthodox manner. Perhaps this is the way that all automobile manufacturers should be approaching doing business.
17. They don’t make slow cars
Needless to say, Koenigsegg deals exclusively with high-performance automobiles. Even their street legal versions have top speeds approaching 500 miles per hour. While they do indeed manufacture many automobiles that can be driven on the open road, virtually everything they do is based in racing technology. That makes these cars just as much at home on a track as they are driving down the highway.
18. Manufacturing automobiles is not their main focus
You might think that an automobile manufacturer is more concerned with the manufacturing process than virtually anything else. In this particular case, that isn’t true. This automobile company is much more interested in developing cars and components for future use than they are in manufacturing automobiles.
19. The company spends a great deal of time on research and development
This is actually where the company spends the majority of its focus. Since it only manufactures a few cars a year, it spends the rest of its time researching and developing new components, techniques and entirely new automobiles and then testing all of these different things in order to see what certain strengths and weaknesses are. Once it’s positive that it has something that works well, it then moves that particular product into manufacturing. Even then, everything is tightly controlled.
20. It all started with a cartoon
You might think that someone that founded a company like this had aspirations of doing something similar for much of their life. However, that isn’t really how this company got started. It might surprise you to learn that the founder was actually watching an animated television program when he got the idea to start this type of car company. Just imagine, if he hadn’t seen that cartoon, this amazing and unique company might not even exist.
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