From The Classifieds: 2008 Koenigsegg CCX

No, it's not some type of gourmet, egg-based breakfast. It's actually a car. From Sweden, at that.

And the name might be familiar to those who followed the fortunes of Swedish car-maker SAAB as it went through massive difficulties only a couple of years back.

The Koenigsegg CCX is rare enough anywhere in the world, and it's certainly rare here – which is what attracted our attention when this 2008 model appeared on carsales.com.au

The stunning mid-engined hypercar is notable for many things: Among them is its challenge to the astounding Bugatti Veyron for fastest road car in the world honours. And that the new price for this entry-level CCX version was the equivalent of A$2.1 million.

Introduced to the world in 1996 and available in a range of variants sold to a discerning few around the world, the Swedish mid-engine two-seater uses its own in-house 4.7-litre twin-supercharged V8 engine developing, in the CCX version, 593kW (the selling dealer quotes 620kW) and no less than 920Nm of torque. The fastest Koenigsegg of all was a special edition CCXR Trevita model that upped the engine size to 4.8 litres, bumped power to 749kW and hoisted torque to no less than 1080Nm. In fact it is this variant that was a true Bugatti challenger.

With about 1.5 tonnes to pull around, performance in any Koenigsegg is out of this world. In the CCX, zero to 100km/h comes up in around 3.0 seconds and the top speed, well, it's best not thought about. Let's just say, without electronic intervention, 400km/h or so is on the cards.

Made with a focus on the US market, the targa-top Koenigsegg is constructed from a composite of carbon fibre, Kevlar and honeycombed aluminium, and is aerodynamically designed to stay in firm touch with the ground at the speeds of which it is capable.

So what's the story with this CCX imported into the country in April 2008 and, according to the Sydney dealer selling it, has appeared in two Sydney motor shows as well as various media launches in Australia and New Zealand.

The orange hyper coupe carries, appropriately, the number plate WATTHE and is fitted with the six-speed manual transmission that was available alongside an also six-speed automated manual.

The asking price is $1,299,990 and the kilometres covered are claimed at just 281, which sounds pretty consistent with a vehicle that has been primarily used as a show car.

Not just the most expensive car we have featured in our classifieds editorial, but probably also the rarest.

The SAAB connection?

Koenigsegg was the Swedish specialist car-maker that took a close interest in the failing company when it was slipping into oblivion in the late 2000s, but withdrew from its planned takeover from General Motors in late 2009.

We reported in December 2013 when, with Chinese financial backing, SAAB's current owner, National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS), announced a re-start of (low-volume) production of the 9-3 model at the Trollhattan plant. The initial sales focus was said to be on Chinese and European markets.