Age: 42
Hometown: Stockholm, Sweden
Company: Koenigsegg Automotive AB; 62 employees at its 43,000-square-foot Swedish headquarters, located on the Ängelholm airfield.
Past projects: The first CC8S was delivered to a customer in 2002, and its successor, the 806-hp CCR, briefly held the record for the world’s fastest production car (until the Veyron came along). Since then we’ve had the CCX and the Agera.
Current project: The Agera-based One:1 is named after both its metric power output of 1 megawatt (1341 horses) and its power-to-weight ratio of 1 hp/kg.
C/D: Does top speed still matter?
CvK: Yes and no. I think that every aspect of speed matters when it comes to our car category—cornering speed, speed of reaction, speed of engine response, speed of braking response. When the top speed is extremely high, it’s the hardest performance to use every day.
C/D: Have you been tempted to go for the top-speed record for production cars?
CvK: Our cars are extremely fast, and they do compete with the Veyron on achievable top speed. We are extremely fortunate to have 24/7 access to a long runway, which gives us the chance to drive our cars at very high speeds every day. But we prefer to talk about the complete performance envelope.
- 2014 Koenigsegg One:1 Revealed: A Magic Ratio That Puts Bugatti to Shame
- 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder Tested: 2.2 Seconds to 60!
- First Drive: 2015 McLaren 650S Coupe / Spider
C/D: Your next car, the One:1, will boast a 1 hp/kg [0.45 hp/lb] power-to-weight ratio. Are you still chasing the numbers?
CvK: Like all our other cars, the One:1 needs to be balanced. It’s easy to understand the power of the engine, but we have to make sure that every other part of the car performs at the same level. We could have even more power out of our engines without jeopardizing their longevity, but they wouldn’t be as drivable. Power levels must be reliable, controllable, and suitable.
C/D: What would you do if a customer wanted to try for the production record in the One:1?
CvK: Interesting question. It’s not our main focus, but if somebody had the venue and the interest, we would support them. And I expect it to be the fastest given its specifications and how it feels at the speeds allowed by our testing facility.
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