Exactly 12 months ago, a Swedish starlet twinkled in Geneva. Bread by the Koenigsegg stable that brought us such supercar royalty as the CCX and the Agera, this Scandinavian concept hinted at something special, a world well beyond the fabled 1000bhp marker that had for so long represented hypercar utopia.
In the ensuing 12 months, that enchanting prototype creation, the Regera, has kept a low profile. Withdrawn from the public gaze back into the heart of Koenigsegg’s Angelholm production and development facility, the prototype hypercar that sent pulses racing and imaginations running wild in Geneva has undergone a meticulous metamorphosis. With no fewer than 3,000 alterations made to the concept during an intense year-long testing and development program, the production-ready hybrid hypercar that takes to the stage at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show has made good on its promise of a year ago. The all-new Koenigsegg Regera is nothing short of a ground-breaking, breath-taking force of nature.
As any true petrol head will tell you, statistics alone only tell part of the story. A car can captivate and set pulses racing without the allure of speed alone. However, in the case of the Regera, one stat towers above all else. This biblical machine possesses an almost unparalleled 1500+bhp and, combined with a curb weight of just 1590kg, will obliterate 0-62mph in 2.8 Seconds, 0-186mph in 10.9 seconds and, theoretically, 0-248mph in 20 of the most white-knuckle seconds you will ever experience in your life.
Numbers of this kind land the Regera square in the sacred territory of the world’s most elite hypercars. Naturally, following its hotly anticipated unveiling just hours previously in Geneva, early assessments will inevitably pit the Regera head to head with the new Bugatti Chiron. For comparison’s sake, the long-awaited Veyron successor comes armed with a similarly brutal 1478bhp and will beat the Koenigsegg in the sprint to 62mph by 0.3 of a second. However, at the higher end of the scale, the Regera’s 450kg slimmer frame enables it to reel in its new nemesis, blitzing the Bugatti’s charge to the 186mph mark by a full 2.6 seconds. Perhaps even more impressively, the sheer bullet-like speed and acceleration of the Regera would see it hold its own in a straight fight against the world’s most unrestricted and uncompromising track-only machines, the Ferrari FXX K and McLaren P1 GTR. Imagine for a second that potential on a street legal car, and you can begin to comprehend the true scope of the Koenigsegg Regera.
As is the case with the majority of today’s dominant hypercars, the Regera’s extraordinary levels of pure power stem from a hybrid heart. Its twin-turbocharged 5.0litre V8 petrol engine pumps out 1085bhp alone but it is the 800 volt battery pack, the first of its size and power ever seen in a production car, that allows the Regera to hit its full and fearsome potential. The 4.5kWh Formula 1 grade battery pack boasts not only the greatest cooling capacity of any car in the world today but also tips the scales at 25kg less than that of the 2015 concept. The three electric motors fed by this battery array combine to provide an extra 704bhp and push overall torque up to an astounding 1475 lb/ft.
A second key element to the Regera’s radical recipe is the introduction of Koenigsegg’s newly developed Direct Drive technology, essentially an automatic gearbox with the downshift thrills of a traditional manual. It uses a highly sophisticated a clutch-slip mechanism to enhance torque levels at medium and high speeds, thereby upping the revs, power and, naturally, the volume of the petrol engine when shifting. As well as cutting down the Regara’s overall weight, Koenigsegg claims its state-of-the-art system is up to 50% more efficient compared with normal transmissions and unlocks levels of acceleration “unlike any other car today”. Shift paddles remain mounted on the steering wheel with the right toggle engaging Direct Drive’s hydraulic ‘downshift’ operation and the left paddle controlling the Regera’s KERS regenerative braking system.
Despite its ultimately performance-geared remit, the Regera does not dispense with all creature comforts. Inside, for example, the ‘Autoskin’ button allows the driver to open all doors as well as both front and rear compartments remotely, whilst an LED display gives access to forward, rear and side facing cameras. Wi-Fi enabled Apple CarPlay comes as standard on-board tech whilst both seats are heated and on hand in the unlikely event that the Regera’s utter ferocity doesn’t get you perspiring all on its own.
With production already underway in Sweden, the very first customers will receive delivery of their scintillating new toy by the end of 2016. The Regera’s reign has begun in earnest and, arguably, so has a brand new era in ever evolving history of the hypercar.
