The last Koenigsegg Regera has been sold, so if you’re still saving your pennies you can give it up.
After over just one year, Koenigsegg has sold all of its Regera hypercars, a total of 80 units. That also means that for now at least, there are no new Koenigseggs available, as all of the Agera RS models are spoken for as well. And at $1.9 million for each Regera, Koenigsegg certainly made a few bucks in the process.
At 80 built, the Regera will actually be the most numerous model from the brand along with being its most sophisticated car. It uses a twin-turbo V8 and three electric motors which combine to send 1,500 horsepower to the rear wheels, but that’s not the crazy part. The car uses a single-speed transmission, using the electric motors at first to drive the car until the engine slowly takes over.
With that powertrain, the Regera will jump to 248 mph in 20 seconds and to 60 mph in just 2.8 seconds.
Knowing Koenigsegg, an all-new hypercar isn’t too far in the future and will likely debut in March, 2018 at the Geneva Motor Show.
Koenigsegg Regera, the $1.9 million, limited edition sports car, is off the shelves
Swedish car maker Koenigsegg Automotive has confirmed that its latest model, the Regera, is all sold out. The Koenigsegg Regera was unveiled at the 86th Geneva Motor Show back in 2016. Only 80 units were made. And now, all 80 cars, each priced at $1.9 million (about ₹12.2 crore), have found owners.
The Regera is a plug-in hybrid sports car that, according to Christian von Koenigsegg, the company’s founder and CEO, was their ‘greatest technical triumph’. The Regera comes in two colors – British Racing Green and Candy Apple Red. Both the models were on display at the Geneva Motor Show. Regera’s chassis is based on the reworked chassis of the Agera model. The car is powered by a 5.0-litre twin-turbo V8 engine backed by three electric motors. The hybrid car provides over 2000 Nm of torque. The engine is a step away from tradition, as it is linked to the Koenigsegg Direct Drive system, as opposed to traditional transmission.
A feature unique to the Regera is that it has a clutch slip mechanism. It uses hydraulic coupling that converts torque at high speeds allowing for high revs and power when you open the throttle. The Regera also has an 800 volt, 4.5 kWh battery pack – making it the world’s first 800v production car. It also boasts of Formula 1- grade battery pack cells weighing a light 90kg.
The hybrid hypercar is able to hit 0-100 kmph in 2.8 seconds, 0-200 in a slick 10.9 seconds and 0-400 in a speedy 20 seconds.
Previously, the Regera’s brother, the Agera RS, had made news for being sold out, with all 25 cars scheduled for production being sold in 10 months. The Agera Final, the last of the Agera line, was sold about before its announcement at the Geneva Motor Show.
This makes the Regera the third model for Koenigsegg to be sold out while in production.
Koenigsegg Regera - hypercar of the future is a sell out
Koenigsegg has confirmed that its first hybrid supercar the Regera is officially sold out. With 80 units planned, this may not sound like a big achievement, but with a price tag of around £1.5 million, it does mean that the substantial technological steps taken by the Regera have not gone unnoticed by those with the means to put down a deposit.
We have yet to drive the Regera on the road or track, but the substantial strides the Swedish supercar maker has made in the development of the Regera make this car far more interesting than it’s evolutionary styling would suggest.
So here is our guide to why the Regera deserves your attention, and why it might just prove to be one of the most important hypercars in a very crowded decade.
The reasons for having lower boost pressure are the electric motors that surround the IC engine, offering a supplemental 690bhp on their own. The resulting peak power of the total drivetrain is 1479bhp, confusingly not the sum of the two power plants. The reason for this is that each of the power units produce their peak numbers at different points in the rev-range.
The really clever bit is how Koenigsegg have combined these components in a way no other manufacturer has tried before. Rather than supplementing a complete IC drivetrain like in a Porsche 918 Spyder, an electric motor takes the place of a traditional gearbox. The Koenigsegg Direct Drive (KDD) transmission transfers the combustion engine's power directly to the wheels without any form of mechanical gearbox and the associated transmission losses that usually come with it.
Split into three separate units on the rear axle, each of the electric motors produce maximum torque at 0 rpm. This means the point when the petrol engine is out of its powerband is made up for by the electric motors. Power is then distributed through the main electric engine attached to the crank and funnelled to each of the rear wheels where the two supplementary engines are mounted.
The batteries are mounted between the driver and passenger seat and for the production cars are the same sort of eye-wateringly expensive units found in F1. It has meant a weight drop of 40kg and improved expulsion and regeneration over the concept to compensate though.
That direct drive did pose an issue when it came to engine response at high speeds, so Koenigsegg then developed a clutch-slip mechanism that allows the engine to gain revs while in gear. The system is controlled via the right hand paddle behind the steering wheel, meanwhile a corresponding left hand paddle increases the regenerative braking effect much like on the upcoming Vauxhall Ampera-e.
It’s this outside-the-box thinking that has made Koenigsegg, and specifically the man behind the tech Christian von Koenigsegg, such an intriguing story to follow regarding the development of the hypercar of the future.
Koenigsegg Regera: the robot car
A side-effect of all this technology has meant the Regera has a full hydraulic system running up and down the car, prompting Koenigsegg to then connect the doors, bonnet and rear clamshell to it with only 5kg of additional weight. Aside from being a party piece at motorshows, it also points towards a slightly different philosophy that has underpinned the development of the Regeara.
Rather than being a hardcore track weapon, the Regera has a softer demeanour focusing on luxury appointments and improved refinement for the driver. To this end, Koenigsegg fitted active engine mounts to diffuse some of the NVH from the IC engine, while the interior and tech has been improved over more performance-focused models like the Agera RS.
This is also seen in the ability for the Regera to operate in EV mode – much like the P1 and 918 – although Koenigsegg has not given us an official electric-only range.
Koenigsegg Regera: more cleverness
Aerodynamics have not taken a back seat to the mechanical advancement in all this though. The Regera has the first production car use of an active top-mounted rear wing. Much like on DTM and GT3 racing cars which also mount the wing from the top, the Regera uses this same tech, but still maintains the ability to drop the wing flush to the rear bodywork to reduce drag when necessary.
Active aero on the front splitter and the changeable ride-height also help the Regera produce 450kg of downforce at 155mph, not quite at McLaren P1 heights, but enough to keep most cars in this class honest. Finally, the exhaust system has been co-developed by Akrapovic, famous Slovenian firm responsible for an increasing amount of OEM exhaust systems found in high end cars and motorbikes.
Where does this leave us?
The real question at the end of all of this is whether it actually works. We have all been so mightily impressed by the strides that von Koenigsegg has made with the technology in the Regera, it will take some time on the road and track to really fathom whether the theory actually works.
The performance figures are truly extraordinary, hitting 124mph in 6.6 seconds and 186mph in 10.9seconds, but could the humdrum 0-62mph time of 2.8 be an indication of an inherent limitation with the technology?
No matter the results, this will be a fascinating first step into the exploration of how internal combustion and electric power units could be combined in ways not previously considered by the mainstream. Hybrid hypercars have come and gone, and we are on the path to the technology trickling down to more attainable levels, but the Regera could well be a focal point of where future Porsches, Ferraris and McLarens could take their newfound experience with hybrid powertrains.
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