From zero to four hundred – to zero – in 31.49 seconds

There aren’t many megacars in the world, but Swedish Koenigsegg is one of them. The happy owner of a Koenigsegg Jesko is also enjoying top-notch tube bending technology, made in Skillingaryd.

By Amelie Bergman / Photo Koenigsegg

Koenigsegg only chooses the very best suppliers.

Say the name Koenigsegg to a car enthusiast and they’ll never stop talking. Koenigsegg Automotive is Sweden’s only, and one of the world’s very few manufacturers of supercars. Or as they call them, megacars.

A megacar is just what it sounds like: A real luxury vehicle with ultra-innovative technology and design. A megacar has to be faster and more attractive than its competitors. It must press the boundaries of what’s possible and set new standards of performance.

In Koenigsegg’s case it’s about handcrafted cars with advanced metals and carbon fibre frames. The company’s founder, Christian von Koenigsegg, manufactured his first car in 1994, when he was just 22 years old. Since then, the development have advanced at rocket pace and Koenigsegg is one of the world’s leading brands in the segment today. And it is still a family owned business.

“Haute couture”

“Koenigsegg is ‘haute couture’, each car is unique,” says Shino Lövstad Waldegren, Junior Strategic Purchaser at Koenigsegg. “When we develop a new model, we first create a prototype to present to the market. The customers – often collectors who have previously owned Koenigsegg cars – order their personal models, which are built entirely to their specifications in terms of equipment, colours and detailing.” Shino, who is originally from Japan, has many years of experience in the automotive industry and has also worked for Honda in the UK.

Sourcing for a Swedish-manufactured megacar is something entirely different.

“From a purchasing perspective, this is as far from mass production as you can get,” she says. “So it is important for us to find long-term suppliers who understand and enjoy the challenge of producing high-quality prototypes and details in small series at a relevant cost. We work with a network of carefully selected suppliers, the vast majority of them Swedish, in fact.”

A precision crafted product

One of the selected suppliers is Proton Engineering in Skillingaryd. Exactly what the company manufactures for Koenigsegg is top secret, of course. But if you buy a Koenigsegg Jesko, you can rest assured that part of your investment contains first-class engineering from Skillingaryd.

The Jesko was launched at the Geneva International Motor Show in 2019 and was an instant hit. Intended for track driving, the car has a 5-litre V8 twin turbo engine and is named after Christian von Koenigsegg’s father. The Jesko Absolut version is the fastest Koenigsegg car to date, with a top speed of over 500 kph.