CarBrandLogos archive · Koenigsegg · 2011

KoenigseggAgera

The car that took a small Swedish firm from curiosity to genuine hypercar maker.

Photo: Edvvc from London, UK · CC BY 2.0

The story

A defining chapter in Koenigsegg history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Koenigsegg Agera, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

The Agera, whose name comes from the Swedish verb meaning to act, replaced the CCX in 2010 with almost nothing carried over. The supercharged engine gave way to a 5.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 of Koenigsegg's own design, the manual gearbox to a seven-speed dual-clutch, and the chassis gained a new carbon monocoque and hollow carbon fibre wheels that removed a significant amount of unsprung mass.

Geneva Motor Show 7945 · Norbert Aepli, Switzerland (User:Noebu) · CC BY 3.0

Geneva Motor Show 2013 - Koenigsegg Agera S Hundra motor

Design and engineering

What marked the Agera out was how far Koenigsegg took it over eight years of production. The One:1 of 2014 was named for a power-to-weight ratio of one metric horsepower per kilogram, with active aerodynamics and a top speed the company projected rather than measured. The Agera R ran on E85. The final Agera RS, of which a small number were built, went to a closed stretch of Nevada highway in November 2017 and recorded a two-way average of 447.19 km/h, taking the production car speed record from Bugatti.

Geneva Motor Show 2013 - Koenigsegg Agera S Hundra motor · Clément Bucco-Lechat · CC BY-SA 3.0

In production

The engineering habits that define the company were established here: almost everything designed and made in-house at Angelholm, unusual solutions preferred to conventional ones, and each car built with substantial customer specification rather than to a fixed catalogue.

Koenigsegg One-1 at Goodwood 2014 001 · Nic Redhead · CC BY-SA 2.0