It’s tough to stay on top – especially when you’re billing yourself as the world’s fastest or most powerful. It wasn’t all that long ago when the folks at Bugatti were bragging about offering a mere 1,001 horsepower in their exotic Veyron ultracar.
Since then, the stakes have been rapidly ramping up, and little Swedish automaker Koenigsegg promises to take the lead when it rolls out its all-new “megacar,” the Regara, at next month’s Geneva Motor Show. If the name elicits a sense of déjà vu, no wonder. Scramble the Scrabble tiles and you’ve got the Koenigsegg Agera – and the carmaker says it will be pulling the wraps off a new version of that model, as well.
For the moment, Koenigsegg isn’t offering many details, suggesting only that the Regara “will reign as the king of the road, as the fastest accelerating, most powerful production car ever.”
That’s no modest claim. Bugatti has already bumped the final version of the Veyron up to around 1200 hp, while the latest version of the Hennessey Venom is blasting out 1244 ponies – with a new version, the Venom 5, expected to nudge the 1,400 hp marque. Indeed, the Koenigsegg One:1 is now rated at 1340 horsepower.
So, how far can those Swedish engineers go? Well, it appears they’re going to follow the latest trend in super, er, ultra, er, megacar trends, opting for a hybrid powertrain package. According to a terse teaser from Koenigsegg, Regard will combine a “never-seen-before combination of power, responsiveness and luxury.”
Word is that the maker will pair an internal combustion engine – very possibly along the lines of what’s now in the One:1 – with a 700-hp battery-electric drive system.
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Beyond the hybrid system, the Regara — whose name, in Swedish, translates as “to reign” – is expected to be based on the same basic platform as the Agera, albeit with a number of updates to its bodyworks. Tweaking the 2-seater’s aerodynamics could help it blast past the 250 mph mark.
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Alongside the new megacar, a new version of the Agera, dubbed the RS, will be making its debut. It is promised to offer a bit more creature comfort than the current Agera line, Koenigsegg suggesting it will deliver “surprising levels of practicality.”
(To see more about Koenigsegg’s return to the U.S., Click Here.)
It also is likely to come in somewhere close to the 1340 hp of the Koenigsegg One:1.
Incidentally, using the term, “megacar,” isn’t just an exercise in hyperbole. It was originally used for the One:1 and referenced the fact that the car produced a full megawatt of power. With its gas-electric drive system, the Regara apparently will blast right through that mark.
It’s one thing to sell a production car capable of having the highest top speed vs. building a race car and calling it a production car to take some record. Bugatti could bump the power output on the Veyron by 500 HP effortlessly and with complete reliability, just by raising the boost slightly. It should be interesting to see what the new “Magacar” has to offer.