Quick chat with Christian von Koenigsegg about the new Regera!

At the 2015 Geneva International Motor Show, Koenigsegg surprised the world with an insane plug-in hybrid supercar which is even more powerful than the One:1, and yet claims to be more comfortable and usable everyday. And if you’re familiar with Koenigsegg’s design language, you would also be shocked at the totally new design which, besides the overall silhouette, does not resemble any of the current Koenigsegg models. During the show, I had the privilege to speak with the founder himself to tell you more about the new Regera.

What’s brand new compared to an Agera?

“Almost everything. We can start out with the carbon fibre chassis monocoque. We have to redesign that to get a 9.2 kilowatt power battery pack in the centre, so it’s wider. We’ve redesigned the whole foot-well area as well, with new paddle box and wider shapes to the outside to maintain the spaciousness we are used to. Then we have more sound insulation as this is more of a road car, and we have a six-way electric memory seats.

Even the pedals are carved from a solid piece of aluminium billet

The whole rear-end, sub-frame of the car is completely new because we have active rubber mounts for the transmission and engine instead of solidly-mounted as part of the chassis. The whole rear is completely new and we don’t have a traditional gearbox, we have direct-drive from the combustion engine to the wheels with the help of three electrical motors producing 700 horsepower. So no shifting occurs but the response of the car is just enormous, because you have no delay or shifting or anything else.

Good luck finding any plastic here

Then the whole body is fully robotised as an option so you could open and close everything with your remote. The doors, bonnet, everything. There’re all roadster style cars, but all in all it’s very much a new experience coming from Koenigsegg.”

Yes a plug-in hybrid Koenigsegg

You mentioned the opening parts are robotised. Does that mean you could open them all simultaneously? That must look pretty cool.

“Yes it is! Exactly just like Transformers.”

Yes, that badge is also the rear fog lights

Who is responsible for the design?

“Well I am, and then I work with my team who gives influences. So we work together basically, but I am ultimately responsible for the design.”

Hard to believe the CC8S is over 13-years-old

What’s the inspiration for the Regera design?

“You see the car over there? Well that’s our first car over there the CC8. It’s very fluid, liquid, simplistic, minimalistic, and elegant. So I would say bird life, dolphins, dynamic animals, smooth…and yea it’s about dynamism. It’s dynamic.”

Huge honour to meet the man himself

If you have watched interviews of Christian von Koenigsegg, you can easily tell that he is extremely passionate of what he does just from the way he speaks. Plus, unlike many CEOs of other major car companies, Christian is the founder, designer and engineer of his own vehicles and therefore understands every minute details of his machines. Plus coming from a relatively small company, Christian and his team managed to produce vehicles which not only leads in terms of innovative technologies but also made a mark in the supercar/hypercar market where others like Gumpert struggled and eventually failed. You can’t help but to have huge respect for a person like him.

Enjoy more photos of the Regera in the gallery below!