Koenigsegg Regera
Koenigsegg has built fewer cars during its entire existence than Ferrari
produces in a single week, and yet the Swedish hypercar manufacturer
has become disproportionally adept at winning headlines. Take for
example the Regera, the company’s all-new model and a car that makes the 1341-hp One:1 that we drove not long ago look slightly underpowered.
The figures are somewhere beyond being merely intimidating. The Regera follows the example set by the McLaren P1, the Ferrari LaFerrari, and the Porsche 918
by using a hybrid drivetrain, albeit one completely unlike anything
we’ve seen before. It uses both a twin-turbocharged 5.0-liter V-8 engine
and three electric motors for a total combined output of 1.11
megawatts, which converts to 1509 metric horsepower—or 1489 horsepower
on America’s SAE measuring stick. Koenigsegg claims the 0-to-400-kph
(249 mph) acceleration time of less than 20 seconds makes the
Regera—Swedish for “to reign”—the fastest-accelerating car in the world.
A Look that Is . . . Understated?
We’ll get to the powertrain in a second—trust us, it’s better to take a
run-up—but first, a word about the design. Perhaps the most amazing
thing about the styling is that Koenigsegg did it almost entirely
in-house and with no professional designers. The Regera is intended to
be a more luxurious alternative to the existing Agera model.
From the front, it does look almost completely different—you could call
it understated by Koenigsegg’s standards. The side and rear profiles
are dominated by the aero channels and the huge deployable rear wing.
The cabin is the biggest surprise; Koenigsegg’s previous models have all
had cockpits like blinged-up Group C racers, but the Regera looks plush
and spacious by comparison, the big central display screen even
features Apple CarPlay.
And now on to the drivetrain. The gasoline side features the novel
Koenigsegg Direct Drive transmission: In effect, a single-speed gear
reduction for the mighty V-8 engine. Between the engine and the 2.85:1
rear final drive there’s no conventional gearbox, just a hydraulic
coupling that, when closed, links the two directly. Below 30 mph, this
can slip slightly, but it isn’t a proper clutch and won’t provide
propulsion at very low speeds where the Regera relies instead on its
electric motors. Above 30 mph, the Regera’s engine speed and wheel speed
rise in direct proportion, with the engine’s 8250-rpm redline
corresponding to the top speed of 249 mph. (Honda’s Accord hybrid and Accord plug-in hybrid
use single-speed transmissions that are similar in concept, although we
wouldn’t be surprised if Christian von Koenigsegg wasn’t even aware of
the existence of those 114-mph family sedans.)
Koenigsegg Direct Drive might sound like the solution to a nonexistent
problem, but the company claims that the lack of a conventional gearbox
both saves weight and reduces the power lost to the driveline by over 50
percent compared to a traditional transmission. And the electric motors
provide the ability to fill in where the V-8 is producing less power
and also to add extra performance on top of it, all the way to the
Regera’s top speed. There are three YASA axial flux motors, which are
lighter than the more common radial flux motors. Two 241-hp versions
drive the rear wheels—and provide torque vectoring—and a 215-hp motor on
the crankshaft supplies torque fill and also acts as both a generator
and a starter motor.
The 620-volt battery pack sits in the chassis backbone where it takes up
2.4 cubic feet of space and weighs 254 pounds. Koenigsegg says it’s the
most power-dense battery pack created for a road car, with a 9.27-kWh
capacity. Prodigious flow rates—up to 671 horsepower can be supplied
during full acceleration and 201 horsepower can be absorbed during
regenerative braking. And, yes, the provision of a 3-kW onboard charger
means that the Regera is a plug-in, with a claimed electric-only range
of 22 miles. We’re told the entire transmission including the electric
motors and the battery pack adds just 194 pounds to the Regera’s weight
compared with its mass if it had been built with just the V-8 and the
company’s existing seven-speed automated transmission.
This is of course very different to what
people are used to in sports cars,” admitted company founder Christian
von Koenigsegg, adding, “It’s nice to shift down, hear the engine howl
and then shoot off. However, given the massive electrical support and
the power of the internal-combustion engine over 2500 rpm, the
experience is otherworldly. At low rpm, the engine will still feel truly
monstrous as the combined torque is unbelievable. The fun of shifting
down and planning for the acceleration is quickly forgotten and not
missed. It needs to be experienced.”
Good luck with that final point. Just 80 Regeras will be produced, each
one commanding a starting price of $1,890,000 before any taxes or fees.
That sum is heady, sure, but it also seems like an odd sort of bargain
when the track-only P1 GTR costs more than $3 million. And then there's
this: The Regera will be offered in the U.S. as a fully federally
compliant model, probably early next year.
The first hybrid created by Koenigsegg is powered by the combination
of a V8 engine and three electric motors – one on each rear wheel and
one on the crankshaft.
The Regera features a softer front-end
design than the Agera and comes with large front air intakes, a front
diffuser, a wrap-around windscreen and a prominent roof scoop. At the
rear, the new model gets an Akrapovic-developed exhaust which exits from
a rear diffuser, above which is the Regera’s charging port.
The
Regera’s large rear spoiler contributes to a total downforce of 450kg at
155mph. The model sits on carbonfibre wheels – 19in at the front and
20in at the rear – and features ventilated ceramic brake discs at all
four corners.
Output from the Regera’s 5.0-litre twin-turbocharged
V8 engine is 1085bhp at 7800rpm. However, the added 697bhp coming from
the electric motors produces a total system output of 1782bhp and
combined torque of 1549lb ft.
Koenigsegg says the Regera is the
most powerful production car in existence, with its outputs
significantly eclipsing the likes of the McLaren P1, LaFerrari and Porsche 918 Spyder.
According
to the car maker, it will cover 0-250mph in under 20sec, 95-155mph in
3.2sec and 0-62mph in around 2.8sec. It has also revealed that the
Regera will run up to 20mph on electric power only.
The key to its
performance is its relatively lightweight hybrid set-up. Although the
Regera is not referred to as a traditional hybrid, the model does
feature a new Koenigsegg Direct Drive (KDD) transmission which, the
company says, can reduce energy losses by up to 50% compared with
traditional transmissions and CVTs.
Despite the huge power output
of the Regera, Andreas Petre, Koenigsegg’s director of sales in Asia,
Middle East, Africa and Oceana, said it wouldn’t be difficult to drive
on the road: “It has very sophisticated ESP, traction control, active
chassis and aerodynamics. It’s like a very fast Tesla with a beautiful
sound."
Just 80 examples of the Regera will be made over the next
five to six years, and each will cost $1.89 million (around £1.23m)
before tax.
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