Christian Von Koenigsegg: A man and his dream

I’ve known about the Koenigsegg cars for a while. As a fan of fast cars, and having built & raced one myself, it’s only natural to be inspired by the nature of fast automotive. There is an art to building race cars which today I appreciate and often contrast to building a business. Having cofounded 2 x venture backed startups in Silicon Valley inc. (inc one backed by Y Combinator) I find the parallels similar yet different.

Recently I was watching a famous VLogger Mr JWW interview Christian Von Koenigsegg on the new Koenigsegg Jesko Hypercar. The name Jesko is a tribute to Christian’s father, Jesko von Koenigsegg.

The Jesko is a high-performance track car, with focus on high aerodynamic downforce and more precise handling. Power 941 kW; 1,262 hp from a 5 L (5,032 cc; 307 cu in) twin-turbocharged V8 with a cost close to $3m, in case that you are trying to build one like him we recommend you to compare between new and used diesel parts to reduce the price.

The video interview struck me because of the detail and passion Christian has for his business developing unique hypercars from the ground up. Christian knows all the intricate detail that make up the cars his company manufacturers. He is a walking talking car dictionary. Not just cars. He is an innovator. Most parts inside the Koenigsegg are designed and built by Koenigsegg. Not sourced from 3rd party suppliers like other manufacturers would do.

So I had to dig up some info and learn more about him and his company. Off to the official Koenigsegg website I went.

About Christian Von Koenigsegg

Christian makes hyper cars that rival the Bugattis and Ferraris of the world. Everything in the Koenigsegg car is custom made. From gearboxes to turbos to engines. He even picks the automotive paint supplies he wants at https://paintforcars.com/single-stage-kits/. His latest gearbox allows the driver to go from gear 9 to 3 in an instant to pull maximum power from engine. The computer supports the driver by making sure that the gear user selects is not going to blow the engine. His cars cost $1-2m on avg. His company has ~200 employees.

It’s get’s better!

What’s more amazing is this story on the about page found on his company’s website.

“In 1991, he invented a new solution for joining floor planks together without adhesive or nails. He called it Click, as the profile enabled the planks to simply click together. Christian presented this technology to his father-in-law in Belgium, who ran a flooring factory. He rejected the idea, saying that if it was viable, someone would have come up with it a long time ago. Christian then showed the concept to a few other floor manufacturers who also dismissed it. In 1995, a Belgian and a Swedish company patented the exact same solution as Christian’s Click floor – they even called it Click! This innovation has now turned into a multi-billion dollar industry…”

https://www.koenigsegg.com/christian-von-koenigsegg/

The moral of this story

The moral of this story; don’t fuckin listen to people who tell you it cannot be done. Push forward and believe in yourself. Because you never know what one day could come of that/those crazy ideas.

If you don’t do it, someone else will.

Regret is much harder to live with than investing some of your time to test ideas and prove others wrong about your contrarian ideas.

Go forth and play!

More reading

• 9 speed gearbox detailed: http://themotormuse.com/2019/03/16/why-koenigsegg-jeskos-9-speed-lst-gearbox-matters/
• Mr JWW interviewing Christian Von Koenigsegg on the new Koenigsegg Jesko Hypercar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjZD-maFwaY
• Koenigsegg official site: https://www.koenigsegg.com
• YouTube Videos on Koenigsegg: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=koenigsegg