Koenigsegg Gemera – 1700 hp, 4 seats, hybrid and a 3 cylinder petrol engine. Welcome to the crazy world of Koenigsegg
With the Geneva car show cancelled, many manufacturers scrambled for live streams of their reveals. Koenigsegg did the same, but with a twist. They were still in Geneva. The stream is approximately 17 minutes long and shows the Regera which will reach its production limit of 80 cars later this year. The top speed focused Jesko Absolut, or absolute in English, was also shown. Much smoother with no large wings or canards compared to the Track edition Jesko. Hopefully, Koenigsegg will take Bugatti´s crown regarding top speed. 500 km/h sounds very likely.
Christion Von Koenigsegg is a person who pushes boundaries, and when the Gemera went on stage, my jaw hit the floor. This car makes every other manufacturer look like they are from the Stone Age. Unique design, room for 4 people (with only one door at each side!), mid mounted hybrid engine and room for luggage. This is the future.
The structure of the car is built entirely out of carbon fiber. Not only to make it strong, but also very light. The goal was to reach a curb weight of 1880 kg, which for a hybrid car of this size is rather impressive. Having a light car gives greater acceleration, but also better fuel economy. The Gemera will have a total range of up to 1000 km and a pure electric range of 50 km. Perfect for your trip to work.
Speaking of which, the power plant is what makes every journalist lose their mind right now. The petrol engine is a 3 cylinder, 2 litre, turbocharged engine with 600 hp and 600 Nm. As usual with Koenigsegg, the engine can be run on almost anything. The company themselves call it flexifuel, The petrol engine together with an electric motor, with 400 hp and 500 Nm, drives the front wheels, where there is also a clutch that makes it possible to control how much power is sent to each specific wheel. Why this combo doesn´t drive the rear wheels is beyond me. Maybe a factory visit is needed. However, don’t think that this car is front wheel drive. Oh no, it is actually four wheel drive. Each of the rear wheel is powered by a 500 hp and 1000 Nm electric engine. This makes it possible to work with torque vectoring. In other words being able to have a control over the power being sent down the wheels on a much higher level compared to just your right foot. To add to this lunacy is 4 wheel steering.
The most mind boggling numbers are a combined power output of 1700 hp and 3500 Nm. This catapults the Gemera from 0-100 km/h in 1.9 seconds.
One thing that I believe many people fail to mention is the step up in interior quality. Sure, older Koenigseggs had great materials, but even the jesko with its gauge cluster that always stay horizontal seem slow and jolty, not as smooth as you might expect for a car of this magnitude. Going even further back and some infotainment systems and buttons look downright horrendous. The Gemera flips this completely with a very simplified interior with a huge floating screen and screens coupled with cameras instead of side view mirrors. This approach lets the materials and craftsmanship speak for themselves, and I do hope that the infotainment system has been thoroughly revised.
This is the future and I am proud to say that a small company in Sweden is showing the way forward with the world’s first mega-GT.