Koenigsegg Automotive AB

Koenigsegg Automotive AB is a leading Swedish manufacturer of high-performance sports cars for the select elite class that is based in Ängelholm. It was founded in the year 1994 in Sweden by Christian von Koenigsegg with the aim of creating a world-class “supercar”. Many years of meticulous development and prototyping ultimately led to the very first street-legal production car delivery in 2002 to an anticipating purchaser. Norwegian designer and industrialist Bård Eker had bought a 45 percent share in the company in late 2005, and is at present the prime owner with 49 percent. Christian von Koenigsegg owns around 18 percent of it, the balance of the stock is held by some 90 small investors.

All Koenigsegg models are carefully manufactured giving utmost importance to the tiniest of details and with state-of-the-art fit designs and finishing touches. High-tech materials and solutions are also utilized to the very best.

The Koenigsegg has launched a series of models from the year 1998 till present ranging from the Koenigsegg CC (1998-2001), Koenigsegg CC8S (2002-2005), Koenigsegg CCR (2004-2006), Koenigsegg CCX (2006-present), Koenigsegg CCGT (2007, one-off), Koenigsegg CCXR (2007-present).

Apart from developing, building-up and sale of the Koenigsegg line of supercars, Koenigsegg is also improvising in “green technology” development programs. This was the result of the production of Koenigsegg’s CCXR series – “Flower Power” flexfuel supercar which turned out to be very popular for its many eco-friendly features offered. Koenigsegg is also very active in expansion programs ranging from plug-in electrical cars systems to the next generation type of combustion engine technologies. Koenigsegg holds patents within the engine development areas like the ‘Rocket catalytic converter’ that helps reduce backpressure and size while shortening the light-off time and a supercharger response system that eliminates the need to use bypass valves, which in turn reduces the consumption and improves the engine response time immediately.

The media reported on the 11th of June, 2009 that Koenigsegg and a group of Norwegian investors had signed a letter of purpose with Saab to take over the brand from General Motors. General Motors confirmed on June 16th that they had chosen Koenigsegg as the buyer of Saab Automobile. General Motors announced on August 18th that the deal had been signed although certain financing minutiae remained incomplete. On September 9th, 2009, it was announced that Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co. Ltd. was going to join as a substitute stakeholder in Koenigsegg.

In due course of time, in November 2009, the deal chopped down through when Koenigsegg was unable to reach an accord with Saab’s stockholders to alter Saab from a high-volume auto manufacturer to a premium auto designer.

The Koenigsegg models have been felicitated with various awards in the Automotive industry, including the Red Dot Award for excellent Design, the National Swedish Design Price – Utmärkt Svensk Form, the Entrepreneur of the Year Nomination – Företagarna Sweden, the Powercar Superexotic import of the year in 2007 as well as 2008 in Germany. On the 28th of February in the year of 2005, in Nardò, Italy, the CCR bust the Guinness World Record for the fastest production car in the world, having achieved a whopping 241.63 mph (388.87 km/h), breaking the record formerly held by the McLaren F1 and making history. The record was apprehended until September 2005 when the long anticipated Bugatti Veyron broke the record again at 253.2 mph. Also in March 2009, the Koenigsegg CCXR was chosen by Forbes magazine to be one of the top ten most beautiful cars since time immemorial.

- Nila Sudheendran

Tags: green cars, koenigsegg, koenigsegg automotive ab, koenigsegg cars, koenigsegg models, supercars

Related Posts:

Related Posts

• Shelby Supercars Inc.