Did you suspect that supercar manufacturers would be nervous when Tesla vowed that its next-gen Roadster would deliver a “hardcore smackdown” to gas-powered performance cars? Your hunch was well-founded. In a chat with Top Gear, Koenigsegg’s namesake founder Christian von Koenigsegg revealed that his company started reworking its engines just to remain competitive with the Roadster’s vaunted 1.9-second 0-60MPH time. “This is embarrassing,” he said.
The Swedish brand is sticking to its hybrid engine approach, but it’s relying on a “peculiar layout” that melded its existing hybrid engine system with direct drive and
It’s not certain when you’ll see this kind of output from a Koenigsegg machine, although there have been rumors of a “Ragnarok” model with a large jump in horsepower. It won’t be surprising if other supercar makers have been making similar moves, mind you. Gas-based cars still tend to have advantages in sustained performance and