Koenigsegg, the Swedish-based manufacturer of immensely expensive supercars wants to become more of an automaker for the people. Instead of just making luxury sports cars for the one percent, they might just expand their customer base, all the way into… the two percent. Maybe a high 3, even?
Expanding the customer base is a good idea, since the current sales volume for the ultra-elite vehicles doesn’t usually crack two dozen annually. That’s probably because models like the Koenigsegg Regera, the fastest production car out there, cost more than two million bucks.
Owner Christian von Koenigsegg says the company still wants to stay super-exclusive, but hopes to build a custom supercar closer to the $1 million price point and, thus, expands its production into the hundreds.
To assist the super-low-volume automaker in this endeavor will be fellow Swedish vehicle firm NEVS whom, you may recall, bought the assets of Saab out for bankruptcy a few years back. And while both automakers have experience with electrification, NEVS does at higher volumes. Plus, it turns out, this million-dollar supercar is unique in other ways: Koenigsegg wants it to be carbon neutral.
According to Top Gear, this will use Koenigsegg’s “‘freevalve’ camless combustion engine technology” with electric combined, making it probably the most souped up hybrid in the world. The visionary CEO says the idea is “to prove to the world that even a combustion engine can be completely CO2 neutral.” One of the reasons it’s not going purely electric is because he sees a battery shortage that will become unavoidable once every automaker is mass-producing electric cars.
Despite this massive change, he insists this new model is still “an extremely sporty car” and even “affordable.” If it stays on track you can see for yourself in 2020.
