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Page five: The Koenigsegg factory visit

The Swedish supersportscar-manufacturer Koenigsegg recently broke the world speed record that the McLaren F1 held since years back. Since I met the Koenigsegg people at the Geneva Salon in 2004 and 2005 we agreed on that we should do the airfield meetup as you read on page two of this report. All the employees of Koenigsegg enjoy BMW and Christian von Koenigsegg himself have owned BMW´s. Our visit to Koenigsegg begun with an introduction of their brand by Sales Executive Patrik in their conference room over coffee and a selection of beautiful colour and leather options for the car. After that he started to guide us through the large facilities of the former fighter jet squadron facilities where they served the JAS 39 Gripen fighter. Koengisegg employs 40 highly skilled workers.

Christian and his father on the Geneva Auto Salon 2005 where they broke the news that McLaren F1´s record was beaten and the Koengisegg CC-R managed to do 388 km/h (388,46 km/h to be exact) at Prototipo circular track at Nardo, Southern Italy. Since the track on protipo is banked plans are that they would do the test on Salt Flats in USA or in the desert of Quatar to achieve even higher speeds.

The story of Koenigsegg is the story of the goals of the founder of Christian von Koenigsegg. He founded Koenigsegg Automotive AB in 1994 at the age of 22. His goal was to make the best supersportscar there is and he had carefully analyzed the worlds best supercars with theirs unique features as well as drawbacks. In 1995 the first prototype was built and the Koenigsegg CC8S was launched in Paris motorshow year 2000. The more powerful CC-R version was launched at the Geneva Salon in 2004, the same show BMW launched "Concept M5".

The CC-R is incredibly powerful. The V8-engine produces 806 HP and 920 Nm of torque. The CC8-S has 655 HP and 750 Nm of torque. The CC-R has a 300 rpm higher rev. limiter as well.

Too bad this was a Saturday so we could not meet Ann-Christin.

Here we are at the conference room listening to the history of Koenigsegg as well as asking questions about this supercar.

Some of the exteriour and interiour colour options as well as different interiour materials.

Caramel colour sample for the leather interior. Almost the same colour as BMW´s caramel which was introduced with the M5 E39.

M5board member Ashok have found his new colour selction for his new M5... Off to BMW Individual!

The Koenigsegg CC-R in Geneva 2005. Koenigsegg is according to themselves "a no compromise car" with "some degree of usefulness". It is for the customer who only wants to "buy the best". Koenigsegg have produced 24 cars to customers to date since the "real launch" in 2002 of the car that is most similar to the production CC8S. Under 2005 23 units are produced of which 19 goes to consumers. So this means that during next year if orders are filled as in 2005 the Koenigsegg will be produced in more examples than the roadgoing McLaren F1. Interesting since McLaren had a goal of selling 300 cars. Later this year Koenigsegg is planning to complete the US-certification of the CC-R and make it available to American consumers and that means acccess to a very large potential market for Koengisegg.

Production of the McLaren F1 ceased in May 1998, with a total production of 100 cars, made up as follows:

F1
F1 LM
F1 GT

64
5
3

GTR 95
GTR 96
GTR 97

9
9
10

The Koenigsegg cars have full Euro 4 certification. Currently the fastest growing market for Koengisegg is China and Russia with orders going to Shanghai regurarly. Koenigsegg´s filosofy is not to make money on servicing the cars, the customer already have made a big investment in the car. As opposed to McLaren F1 where the first service could cost €42 000.

After the meeting we started our factory tour with Patrik as our excellent guide. We were totally convinced that he had the best job in the world.

The light yellow material is kevlar and the black material is carbon fibre. The panels are fabricated in 21 layers of carbon.

The tools for working with the kevlar and carbon is made out of the same material.

Here you can see the upper part of the front with a opening for the windscreen. Christian von Koenigsegg tested the rigidity of the windscreen frame by standing on it and jumping. Naturally, it did not break.

The weight of the chassi module is only 62 kg thanks to the use of 21 layers of carbon fibre and the torsional stiffness is 28 100 Nm/degree. Compare this to the stiffness of a Porsche 996 Turbo Convertible with 11 600 Nm/degree. Notice that the Koenigsegg also is in part a convertible with a retractable hardtop. For reference the Porsche 911 Turbo has a torsional stiffnes of 27 000 Nm/degree and that is not a convertible. This offers excellent safety to the driver and passenger, as seen in accidents during Formula One. Furthermore, the rigidity is also very important for the handling of the car.

This monocoque construction as well as other parts are manufactured in materials of the highest quality which resulted in that at the crashtesting of the CC8S in Volvo's facilities it came out as the safest car they ever tested. Also thanks to that it is so light it has less mass which leads to a lower kinetic energy than of a heavier car, which results in a safetyfactor in itself.

It takes three months to produce a Koengisegg and 60% of the consumers choose to special order their cars with for example very advanced stereo systems, Park Distance Control, owners name stitched into the back-rest of the car etc.

You can easily lift the complete door with one hand.

Even the doorhandles are made of carbonfibre which is a weight-saving of 1-2 thousands of a kilogram compared to normal plastic, but it shows Koenigseggs dedication to save weight. After the handle is made in carbon it is covered in leather. This is unbelievable expensive for a simple part as a door handle but this is the way Christian von Koenigsegg wants it: maximum attention to detail and only the best materials there is.

More carbon fibre parts for the engine, the above ones are polished and painted with clearcoat.

The fueltanks are two separate cells integrated into the moncoque, one on the left and one on the right side of the car. As you can see on the shape of these tanks it gives a low polar moment of inertia as well as perfect weight distribution.

This 362 mm in diameter brake-disc are gripped by massive six-piston calipers. On the CC-R this dimension is fitted both at front and rear.

Here we have a Koenigsegg going through assembly. As you see on the poster the Koenigsegg CC8S was launched in Paris Salon in september of 2002. We could count to at least four Koenigsegg CC-R being assembled currently at the facilities. The fit of the hand made details seems to be perfect.

Carbon everywhere. Super-strong and super light. Considering it is also a convertible with a removable top it is extremely rigid: more rigid than a Porsche 911 Turbo (996).

Here we have the ultra-light seats that will be covered in Tempur material for maximum comfort for this sporty car. The carbon seats can be manufactured after your body for an additional cost.

The door seems to be more or less complete with leather and speakers mounted. And here we have a orange CC-R door being made. This orange colour have been very popular and several of the first customer cars where produced in this colour since it is the official colour for the CC-R of the pressrelease. The note says "Don't touch".

Purely crafted by hand. Koenigsegg logo on the speaker next to the interior handle.

A paint job takes very long time for each Koenigsegg. This process is especially time consuming when doing colours with pearl-effects.

Carbon everywhere, again. As you might see there is not a problem manufacturing a right-hand drive Koenigsegg. The text on the middle-console says "Finished".

Super-light magnesium wheels. 20 inch and no problem holding it up with one hand. The spoke design makes brake cooling very effective. Center nuts for mounting the wheels. For the CC-R it is 19'x9.5' and for the rear 20'x12,5'. Tyres is 335/30-20 for the rear and 255/35-19 for the rear. The CC8S has 19' front and rear for the wheels.

An orange and a yellow CC-R have the final pieces assembled on them. These cars are truly handbuilt down to the last screw. Next to the car you could see a hand-written list what should be done and what have been done to it crossed over in handwriting in Swedish.

The Koenigsegg facilites were originally huge former buildings for servicing a fleet of fighter jets that protected the southern Swedish airspace. Notice the ghost symbol on the middle of the wall. The ghost also decorates the CC-R version of the Koenigsegg, to honour the Swedish Fighter Jet Squadron No. 1 who had their fighter-jets right here. The ghost was the symbol of the squadron.

Here you recognize the unpainted carbon frame for the windscreen on the orange CC-R. The CC-R is very popular in orange colour since the car in the press release for the CC-R was painted in this colour. Almost all the Koenigsegg produced now are CC-R since the price difference is so small between the CC-R and the CC8S. The Koengisegg is available in both as a left hand drive and right-hand drive. At least four right-hand drive have been sold to the UK.

We were suprised of the size of their factory. The facilities had been renovated just some years ago in excess of €20 millions and with renovation going on even while Koenigsegg moved into the facilites. The contractors had their agreements to complete their work and the politicians had decided to close down the airbase prematurely. Luckily for Koengisegg and too bad for our country regarding politicians...

The Koenigsegg and the JAS39 Gripen fighter Jet on Koenigsegg´s own airstrip where we put three generations of M5 through it's paces. We also noticed that the white painted lines on the airfield were a lot more slippery than the asphalt...

The very same airfield. JAS39 Gripen hangars covered in grass for minimum vision from above. The 1995 Avus Blue M5 Touring, the 2000 LeMans Blue M5 and finally the most advanced four door car there is today: the Interlagos Blue M5 of 2005.

The Jas 39 Gripen. The Jas 39 Gripen fighter recently won against seasoned and battle-proven US fighter jet Lockheed Martin F16 Falcon in a competiton for the new generation of fighter jets for NATO-country Hungary. The picture is taken above Läckö Slott near Lidköping, Sweden.

Two CC-R´s. Koenigsegg can simultaneously produce seven cars in total and three in parallell when they are finished for assembly. We did not want to scratch the cars since a new paint job costs around €25 000 for the cars with pearl-effect in the paint.

Above and below is the Koenigsegg CC8S that was over in the USA.

Beautiful interior in aluminum, leather and carbon-fibre. Purely handmade. Seats in carbon with leather clad Tempur seating material. The lights between the seats make it easier to read maps at night. The shape of the seats can be made specifically for the customer but it´s quite expensive.

The unique doors. Traditional doors would have made the Koenigsegg too wide fior use everyday. Just 10 mm under two meters in width (1990 mm) makes the cars too wide to have regular doors for example when parking. More classic supersportscar doors like the Lamborhgini Murciolago and Countach would make the door mechanism sit too high on the car.

The air ventilation outlets in the middle-console. Norice that they are in carbon with Caramel leather along with black stitching.

Koenigsegg approved safety glass even for the small rear window.

The speed-record breaking CC-R we took out on the airfield. It sounds very similar to an offshore racing-boat, very raw and nice. The blue car to the right is the first full scale prototype. The CCR engine delivers 806 Hp at 7000 rpm and 920 (550 ft-lb) Nm of torque at 5,400 rpm. It is a state-of-the-art Quad Cam semi-stressed V8 construction with a 4.7 litre displacement and 32 valves. The CCR is boosted to its extreme power output by a unique Bi-compressor Supercharging system, which employs twin centrifugal compressors to enable a 1.4 bar maximum boost pressure at 5000 RPM.

The bi-compressor centrifugal supercharging system features twin parallel mounted Rotrex compressors, which cooperate in generating the 1.4 bar boost pressure needed to create the colossal 806 Hp output. The innovative Danish Rotrex compressor represents the next generation of centrifugal superchargers; they exhibit a higher energy-efficiency level than any other, they are operational at higher RPM levels and also feature a new and completely silent ball bearing planetary drive system.

This is cast from one block of lightweight aerospace aluminum.

The world´s fastest production car meets up with the world´s most competent sports saloons.

Heading towards the airfield. I can see why Peltor is a sponsor on the Koengisegg. They make hearing protection and the CC-R was loud!

However the Koenigsegg Sales Managers first comment after trying out the M5 on their private airfield was: "xxcking incredible". So we were very impressed with Koenigsegg and Koenigsegg was very impressed with the new M5. We spent at least four hours on the airfield together with nice cars. And knowing you had to go to another country (Denmark) and then back 700 km and after that to another airfield just made you smile more when you knew you had the M5 as a companion.

Order some of the the racingvideos below. $15 excl. shipping worldwide. See trailer for the video-CD here. Several races filmed from inside and outside some of the cars. The video is in stock and will be shipped within 2 days from ordering online. Three video trailer on this link, go here. Trailers are: from the second airfield with short clips from the exotics, a full race versus the E55 AMG and when the M5 drives on a highway.

Click here to go to m5board.com online ordering of media with worldwide delivery from USA. Payments via credit card.

For an example of a picture on this page and one that is in highresolution, see the image below. The source image for that picture is this image. The images are 3072 pixel wide and 2304 pixel high (3072x2304). So, this is the high-res and this is the low-res.

So, this was our weekend with the new M5! Two airfields, 10 full tanks of fuel, 2600 km, 0,6 liters of oil and alot of fun! Please maile me your comments or suggestions to gustav@bmwm5.com.

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