New Koenigsegg One:1 to top 450km/h

Koenigsegg has over the years built up a reputation for turning out high-priced road rockets that offer eye-watering performance, if not the greatest reliability.

However, the Swedish carmaker now has even grander aspirations of smashing the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport’s performance benchmarks to smithereens with its new Agera One:1.

The ‘One:1’ suffix is reference to the car’s power-to-weight ratio – ie: 1kg per hp, which would close to matching the current crop of F1 cars (730hp to propel 642kg).

The company is targeting a kerb weight of 1400kg for the Agera One:1, with a staggering power output of 1400bhp (1045kW) from its twin-turbo 5.0-litre quad-cam V8.

The mid-mounted motor will send drive solely to the rear wheels (unlike the all-paw Veyron), so only a raft of traction-control measures will keep it from being a tyre-fryer.

Koenigsegg says its simulations indicate the One:1 to be capable of 450km/h “or more”, which, if it were to translate to reality, would comfortably eclipse the 431km/h benchmark set by the Veyron Super Sport.

It’s not just the One:1’s top speed that would rewrite the record books, as its maker also boasts it will be the fastest car from 0-200km/h, 0-300km/h and 0-400km/h. Koenigsegg trumpets a theoretical 0-400km/h split of 20 seconds, which is a whopping 25 seconds less than the Veyron requires.

As absurd as these figures sound, the Agera One:1 is not merely a pie-in-the-sky project, as a prototype of the car is expected to be completed before the end of this year. The production run will comprise just six cars, with most of these destined for the Chinese market.

More amazing still is that all six are allegedly already spoken for, even though they will command a much higher ask than the $1.7m for the standard Agera, which makes do with a piddling 707kW and 1100Nm.

In addition to its Herculean powertrain, the Agera One:1 will also gain a host of aerodynamic mods – including a Le Mans-style rear wing and front splitter – to ensure it doesn’t launch into hyperspace at 400km/h-plus.

Standard equipment is likely to include climate control, tyre pressure monitoring, a g-force sensor, a hydraulic lifting system for speed bumps, carbon ceramic brakes, an electronic locking differential and a single-clutch seven-speed paddle-shifted transmission.

Explaining the rationale behind the OTT offering, company founder Christian Von Koenigsegg said, “No-one needs a car like this, they just need to want one.”

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