The article was originally produced on 23 May 2020, some facts and prices may have changed since then.

A family business that has gone through fire and adversity but now shines brighter than many other stars in the automotive industry's sky.

For more than fifteen years, I have been familiar with the family business from Ängelholm, which last year celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary. I have lost count of the number of visits, test drives and photo shoots at the factory, but I never cease to be impressed by what they do.

Koenigsegg is in good shape!

To build a brand from the ground up and take it as high as Christian and his family have done is something that few are afforded and for most only a dream. Christian took his dream and made it a reality, a dream of building his own hyper sports car that would be more exclusive, stronger and faster than anything people had seen before!

- Koenigsegg is in good shape! We have produced approximately half of the Regera programme and in just under a year we will start Jesko production. Now we have also just presented two new models, Gemera and Jesko Absolut.

The big news is the Gemera, which is a four-seater model that goes by the designation "Mega-GT". A car intended for four adults where even those in the back seat should be able to have plenty of space and be entertained with a large screen. Self-driving features and other amenities will also be present while being fast enough to give any two-person Hypercars or Megacars a serious match. The car has been received with a standing ovation from both customers, dealers and the media, and a large number of orders have already been received.

The name Gemera refers to the Swedish "give" and "more", it should simply give more. One of the great innovations in Gemera is the engine. A type of engine Christian and the company have worked on developing for 20 years now. The big news is so-called "freevalve" technology, free valves. I well remember one of my early visits to the factory where Christian showed me a special room where experiments on freevalve technology were taking place. Christian has high hopes that freevalve is really a technology that belongs to the time when it enabled C02 neutrality, reduces emissions and can utilise existing infrastructure in the form of gas stations.

The engine in the new Gemera has been given the cute nickname "Tiny Friendly Giant", precisely because of its strength but gentle impact on the environment. Gemera will be built in a total of 300 copies starting in 2022 in completely new premises of 10,000 square metres which will be built next to the current premises.

The other model that was presented is Jesko Absolut and is in itself not a completely new model but not shown in physical form. The Jesko model premiered at last year's Geneva motor show and comes in two versions, a more track-oriented one and the high-speed version that is the Jesko Absolut. It is up to the customer to choose between the more track-oriented version and the high-speed version. It will be exciting to see how the distribution between the two will be. When asked whether any customer will independently test the top speed Jesko Absolut will be able to offer, Christian cannot answer. But when they broke the world record for series-produced cars in 2017 (447 km/h), it was a customer who lent his car for the record attempt, but where the factory's test driver at the time, Niklas Lilja, performed the task. There is a constant race to be the strongest and fastest.

Koenigsegg still holds the speed record for series-produced and street-approved car models

One brand that tried to put Koenigsegg in its place is Bugatti, which last year managed to get up and over the magical 300 miles per hour mark. However, Christian is apparently pointing out that it is still Koenigsegg that holds the record for series-produced and street-approved car models. The car Bugatti drove was a specially equipped test prototype, where Bugatti themselves have come out and said that the customer cars will not be as fast. Bugatti has also said that they will not continue with speed records and that is certainly true, as the speeds have become so high and disconnected from reality that it is mostly hypothetically interesting, more than it fulfils any function. Christian completely agrees with them there.

If you then look at the function and technology of sports cars in the future, Christian compares to how horses went from being a means of transport to a means of entertainment, this will also happen with sports cars. When ordinary cars disappear and are replaced by self-driving "pods" that are shared in various forms, the sports car will remain as a pleasure vehicle that is driven, perhaps on public roads, but perhaps also only on racetracks. The entire car industry is in the midst of its biggest reformation since it started about 130 years ago, says Christian.

It is becoming clear that the big players that have dominated for the last 50 years or so - no longer hold their advantage. They find it difficult to adjust quickly enough and innovation is not their strength. Implementation and product quality, which have been their strengths, no longer carry as much weight. Now it is necessary to be quick-footed to provide the latest solutions, in terms of connection, electrification and feeling. If the quality falls a little behind, it may even be OK for many customers - something that was unthinkable just five years ago.

Above all, this has given the German players a headache, as the game plan is so redrawn that they don't know where to start. When it comes to new technology and powertrains, Christian believes that electric cars are usually better than the cars they replaced. It is a good solution, not least when it comes to shorter distances, where you can use batteries that do not weigh that much. When it comes to longer distances, the disadvantage is that the batteries weigh more, which creates greater rolling resistance and poorer driving dynamics. And that there are so far too few charging stations. For these distances, the best solution is to combine electricity with next-generation carbon dioxide-neutral biofuels such as ethanol, methanol and the electromethanol Vulcanol. These fuels can easily replace the petrol at the supermarkets, so the infrastructure is already ready and paid for. The Koenigsegg Gemera will be the first car in the world to offer this combination.

As an energy source, the sun is obviously the best source as it burns hydrogen in large quantities, whether we want it to or not. The solar energy can be picked up with the help of solar cells, wind power or wave power, for example, and can be converted into electricity or why into solar fuel that can be mixed with the other renewable fuels available. 

As previously mentioned, one of Koenigsegg's strengths is that it is a family business. Something that can obviously be both an advantage and a disadvantage. Christian mainly only sees advantages in it, you might care even a little more about your foster child - where the company is like a family member in itself. The disadvantages and the other side are that it is difficult to let go and disconnect, and that it can certainly be seen as more difficult to make a career in a family business than others. However, he would like to point out that both his wife Halldora, who is the COO, and himself focus a lot on lifting themselves out of many contexts, to give freedom and build an organisation under them, which will ultimately function perfectly without them - but there they can still contribute that little extra when needed. Successfully building a company like Koenigsegg requires incredible navigation and tact. In the times we live in, ups and downs are part of our everyday life. For more than 25 years as a company, Koenigsegg has had a knack for dealing with downturns in the economy, often because it didn't go down everywhere in the world at the same time. For the next few years, the production is already sold and with the relatively small volumes that are produced, the world is still a great place to find new opportunities. 

- My saying as an entrepreneur in ups and downs is - keep your feet on the ground and your mind up in the clouds - at the same time. Keep it "real" but at the same time dare to dream and realise, otherwise nothing new will happen. 

The main strategy is flexibility and adaptability. It has carried them through all the major global financial and other crises to date. It's about finding the common thread, which is always there behind, and making the most of it. And when things are going well, always expect worse times to come, so they don't come as a surprise. But clearly more is required as an entrepreneur in hard times. Christian has noticed that he often finds himself quickly when it's windy, because that's where he and the company were for the first ten years. It is a place that he is quite used to and comfortable in. Successes can sometimes be more difficult because everything can happen very quickly and it then easily becomes a positive domino effect, which can feel strange when you are used to fighting. However, it is just as important to do the "right" thing in good times as in bad times, otherwise you fall flat when things get a little tougher again. 

If Christian thinks Koenigsegg will be bigger than Volvo one day, he has a hard time answering, the future is, as you know, very difficult to predict. The goal of Koenigsegg is not to be the biggest - or bigger than any other player. The goal is simply to do what they do best. Growth comes as a result of how well one performs the task and how much one feels is reasonable to grow without risking the company too much for that matter. 

- I see more that the solutions, concepts and technologies that we develop within the framework of Koenigsegg become big and help the car industry as a whole - there I think we can beat Volvo and many others in the industry.

With Gemera, you push the boundaries of technology forward, the number of manufactured copies also increases slightly compared to previous models, which means that the price is also slightly lower. But it is still not about a dozen cars and which is very expensive for the vast majority. But having said that, he and the company have many ideas about additional cars and vehicles for the future. A final word which for me means that the visits, test drives and photography will continue well into the future. 

Koenigsegg

*The company was started on 12 August 1994 by a then 22-year-old Christian.

*1996 racing driver Rickard Rydell drives the first version of Koenigsegg with the designation CC at Anderstorp Raceway. 

*During the film festival in Cannes 1997, the Koenigsegg CC is shown to the great joy of the audience and the media.

*The first motor show for Koenigsegg to attend is 2000 and the Paris Motor Show, then with the new model CC8S. 

*A fire hits the factory premises just two weeks before the 2003 Geneva Motor Show. 

*Signed first visit and test drive of the new model CCR took place in 2004.

*In 2002, 2004 and 2005, the company won a number of Guinness World Records for, among other things, strongest engine and fastest car.

*In the successful TV programme Top Gear, in 2006 their track record was broken with the new model CCX.

*Thanks to changed regulations, there will never be any competition with the specially made version CCGT, intended only for the track. 

*After a failed deal with Saab in 2010, you have to act and the new model Agera is a consequence of this. 

*2014 saw the birth of a new version called One:1 based on the Agera R. Thanks to a reduction of 100 kilos, a weight/power ratio of one horsepower per kilo has been achieved, hence the name. 

*With electric drive and the entirely proprietary KGG gearbox, the new Regera model makes its debut in 2015.

*The last Agera rolls out of the factory in 2016 and was then produced in a total of 60 copies including the various versions. 

*On a cancelled stretch of road in Nevada in 2017, the factory's test drivers manage to take home the record for the world's fastest series-produced and street-approved car models. 

*Dedicated to and with the same name as Christina's father, the new Jesko model will be presented during the 2019 Geneva Motor Show. 

Koenigsegg Gemera

Award	About SEK 16 million
Engine	2-litre three-cylinder, twin turbo, 598 hp. Plus 3 electric motors. Total power 1,734 hp. Torque 3,500 Nm
Transmission	Mid-engine, Koenigsegg Direct Drive (KDD), four-wheel drive
Acceleration	0-100 1.9 seconds
Top speed	400 km/h
Consumption mixed driving according to the manufacturer	No task
Weight	1,850 kg
Web	www.koenigsegg.com