This $2 million Swedish hypercar will give Ferrari, McLaren and Porsche nightmares
The Ferrari LaFerrari, McLaren P1 and Porsche 918 comprise the Holy Trinity of million-dollar hybrid hypercars.
Now, Koenigsegg has something that will not only take on the mighty trio of million-dollar cars, but that's also got the goods to take on cars costing more than twice that amount.
Regera, which means "to reign" in Swedish, debuted as a prototype in 2015. Now, Koenigsegg is back with the production version that will reach showrooms.
Like the 217-mph models from Ferrari, Porsche and McLaren, the Regera is a hybrid. But it's much faster.
Its $2 million asking price and a 250 mph top speed means it's also a rival for cars such as Bugatti's newly revealed $2.6 million, 1,500-horsepower, 261-mph, 16-cylinder, quad-turbo Chiron hyper GT car.
Under the hood, you'll find a 1,200-horsepower, 5.0-liter, twin-turbocharged V8 engine with an attached electric motor. The Koenigsegg V8 is an engine we've seen produce more than 1,300 horsepower in the past. In this case, horsepower has been sacrificed in favor of better torque output. But 1,200 ponies is still a mind-blowing amount of power.
There's more.
You'll also find a pair of rear-wheel mounted electric motors that produce a combined 720 horsepower. Together, the complete system produces a whopping 1,500 horsepower. (Unfortunately, you can't simply add up the power output of the internal combustion and the electric motors).
And then there's the transmission. It doesn't really have one in the traditional sense."It's the first non-electric production car without a gearbox," company founder Christian von Koenigsegg told Business Insider. "It has direct drive to the rear wheels without a traditional transmission."
On average, cars lose about 15-20% of the power their engines produce by the time said power reaches the road.
According to the company, the direct drive system cuts the amount of horsepower lost in half.
The Regera is actually a plug-in hybrid with a 4.5 kWh battery pack that can be charged through a wall socket. But don't expect to drive this car for any more than 10 miles in electric mode, von Koenigsegg said.
In addition, the Regera features an advanced regenerative braking system similar to what's used in Formula One racing that can help the car recharge its batteries in just minutes.
"250 mph is where we run out of gears," Koenigsegg said.
According to the Swedish entrepreneur, what makes the Regera special is not the 250 top speed, it's way the car reaches that speed.
"You reach 250 mph in just 20 seconds," von Koenigsegg said. "It's way way faster to that speed than anything out there."
"Last year our company employed 68 people, now we are 112," von Koenigsegg said.
And they can't build these cars fast enough.
"We sold 40 of the 80 Regeras before the first production car was delivered," the company's founder said. "Now we have a three year waiting list we are working on."
Photos by Hollis Johnson.