World exclusive drive: Koenigsegg Regera

Really?

Yes – all of it. Anyway, a couple of weeks back, before this candy apple red Regera was loaded up and shipped off to appear at Pebble Beach, photographer Rowan Horncastle and I went to Angelholm to spend the day with Christian von Koenigsegg and drive his new car. And yes, the F1 cell pack only weighs 75kg and yet Christian reckons it should give a range of 20-30 miles. That alone could be revolutionary for the car industry. The power density is massive and running at 800 volts (another world first, the Porsche Mission-E will eventually catch up…), the recharge and discharge rates are colossal.

And they need to be, because the Yasa electric motors are massively powerful. There’s a 32kg motor for each rear wheel (which manage torque vectoring and mean the Regera runs an open differential) and another on the crank, this one to recharge the battery, operate as a starter motor and generally smooth things out and assist when it can. That one delivers around 220bhp, while each rear wheel motor contributes another 240bhp. Yep, that’s a total of 700bhp of electric power right there. Basically the same ballpark as the Tesla Model S P90D. Or expressed another way, more wattage than the P1, 918 and LaFerrari combined.

Jeepers, what gearbox does it use to handle the torque?

Remember what I was saying about Koenigsegg being more radical than you’d expect considering its size (110 staff at the moment, but expanding all the time)? Christian told me “If we can't find the right partner or solution for a problem we basically bring it in house”. Well, Christian’s concept for the Regera was not to have a gearbox at all…

The other figures he quotes are plain bananas, and the one that truly blows my mind is the 3.2secs it takes to accelerate from 90-155mph. The projections show it will hit 250mph in around 20 seconds, having passed 186mph (300kmh) in around 11 flat. The One:1 currently holds the world record at 11.92, but Christian is confident the Regera will be faster.

Koenigsegg intends for the Regera to rain on the Chiron’s parade, to make you question why Bugatti hasn’t done something this radical for the Veyron’s replacement. Perhaps in line with that, the Regera is intended to be a gentler experience than the Agera. The engine is rubber bushed to lessen vibration, the rear wing whirrs up and down hydraulically, as do the doors and front and rear clams. It’s superb to watch. The cabin is a work of art, the side sills massively wide, the carbon shelled, memory foam seats built here from the ground up, the F1-spec batteries tucked away in the transmission tunnel.

Is it still based on the Agera RS, then?

Broadly speaking, yes. The bodywork may be new, shaped to be more aerodynamic, but underneath the carbon tub is near identical and besides using slightly smaller blowers, the engine is the same, too. In fact, we shouldn’t skip over the engine – it’s a very impressive thing, and its specific output of 220bhp per litre (on regular pump fuel) is, as far as I can work out, the highest of any current production car.

OK, enough facts already. What’s it like to drive?

Well, it’s very simple to operate. The handbrake is automatic, so all you do is pull the right paddle to engage forwards or left for reverse (the electric motors are reversed). Pull both together for park. So that’s straightforward, but the driving is weird initially. As we pull out of the factory onto public roads it feels most like a lazy American V8 muscle car. The noise throbs and rises, but drive takes a second to catch up. That’s the torque converter doing its thing.

Then, at 30mph, if you’re only driving gently, the torque converter stops slipping, locks and gives you direct drive, the V8 churning away at barely tickover. It’s at that moment I start to love the Regera – the connection now feels natural and low rev thrust is unearthly as the electric motors add their bite. “See, like a Tesla, but half a tonne lighter and with another 1,000bhp!” Christian tells me.