Christian von Koenigsegg

Christian von Koenigsegg
Born Christian Erland Harald von Koenigsegg
(1972-07-02) 2 July 1972
Stockholm, Sweden
Known for Founder and CEO of Koenigsegg Automotive
Spouse(s) Halldora von Koenigsegg

Christian Erland Harald von Koenigsegg (born 2 July 1972) is the founder and CEO of the Swedish high-performance automobile manufacturer Koenigsegg Automotive AB.

In 1994, Koenigsegg launched the "Koenigsegg project" which eventually became Koenigsegg Automotive AB.[1] Designer David Crafoord provided a design concept following Koenigsegg’s guidelines. The prototype enabled the foundation of Koenigsegg Automotive AB.

Koenigsegg and his wife, Halldora von Koenigsegg, are active in the company's management.

Early life

Koenigsegg showed an interest in cars from an early age, starting at the age of five when he watched a stop-motion film, Flåklypa Grand Prix, about a bicycle builder who built a racing car, Il Tempo Gigante. When he was six years old, he drove a go-kart for the first time in his life, and he vividly recalls this as "one of the best days of his life".[2] His first summer job was at a Suzuki dealership outside of Stockholm, Sweden, cleaning cars. At around this time, his hobby was tuning mopeds and was well known in his area.

Innovations

A novel idea of Koenigsegg is triplex suspension: a rear suspension system used in current Koenigsegg models that allows for maximum comfort and straight-line speed. It uses a transversely-mounted shock-absorber that connects the two rear wheels as well as independent suspension systems for each wheel.[3] Another innovation that the company is pursuing is free valve technology that uses electronics and air-pressure to actuate intake and exhaust valves. This provides very high precision and unlimited timing control, instead of the traditional camshaft technology for their cars, allowing for engines to be much more efficient by reducing weight and size of engines, while making each cylinder able to be controlled independently, allowing for more complete combustion.[4]

Koenigsegg Automotive

In 2003, a fire devastated the factory. Although the building was destroyed, most of the equipment and all of the cars under production were saved. They moved to their current location, a former Swedish airplane hangar. In 2004, a new model was introduced, the Koenigsegg CCR. Up until then, Koenigsegg's cars only complied with regional safety and emissions tests, but with the Koenigsegg CCX, released in 2005, they were able to expand to the whole world. In 2010, Koenigsegg came out with their Koenigsegg Agera. A recent model of the Agera, the Agera RS, is now the fastest production car in the world, with a top speed of 277 mph.[5] In 2014, Koenigsegg built the Koenigsegg One:1, a "mega car" (having 1,341bhp, or 1 megawatt of power), with a power to weight ratio of 1 horsepower to 1 kilogram, which is also how the car got its name. In 2015, Koenigsegg released the Koenigsegg Regera, a high performance luxury hypercar, at the 2015 Geneva Auto Show in March. At the same time, they released the Agera RS. [6]

References

  1. ↑ Christian, 5: Jag ska bygga en egen bil när jag blir stor, Aftonbladet, 12 June 2009 (Swedish)
  2. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-01-26. Retrieved 2013-02-19.
  3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbgjRBT4ltM&list=PLHa6PXrV-yIgnXSYFT07BouKhEhyFuWnf
  4. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bch5B23_pu0&list=PLHa6PXrV-yIgnXSYFT07BouKhEhyFuWnf
  5. ↑ https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/car-technology/amp13303039/koenigseggs-top-speed-was-285-mph-on-the-nevada-highway/
  6. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-03-17. Retrieved 2013-02-19.

http://www.automobile-sportive.com/guide/koenigsegg/ageraone1_en.php

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