Showpiece of the Week: Koenigsegg One:1

Speedtail not fast enough for you? You might want to consider this...

Many people have tried and failed to achieve what Koenigsegg has. With each supercar maker that bursts into the world promising so much, only to then falter and die soon afterwards, the achievements of this Swedish company grow ever more impressive. In just 24 years, the firm has established itself not just among the inner circles of the industry, but the wider, mainstream car world, as a marque not to be messed with. And that reputation only seems to be hardening.

A skim through social media shows that some youngsters view Koenigsegg in a higher vein than the most established supercar maker of the lot, Ferrari. Perhaps to their young minds a company that can essentially match the McLaren F1's top speed from the get go with its first car, the CCX, is as exciting as it gets. Who cares about 70 years of Maranello romance when the Swedes are so good at boosting V8s? They're faster than anything else in the video games, anyway.

Koenigsegg has a massive reputation, so it's perhaps surprising to remember this is a company of fewer than 150 employees. The Ängelholm firm, headed by the extremely charismatic Christian von Koenigsegg, has produced 18 models, but the number has been inflated because there are so many variants of its core offerings. There were seven versions of its CCX, which ranged from the 'standard' 245mph car to the 249mph CCXR Trevita. Then there have been six Agera variants, bookended by the base 260mph car and the Agera RS that does an astonishing 284.5mph. If anyone's going to break the 300mph barrier one day, you wouldn't bet against this lot being the first to do it.

Koenigsegg's staggering performance hasn't come through the use of simple bolt-on off-the-shelf parts either. The firm is arguably as much of an engineering company as it is a supercar maker, and you only have to look at the powertrains of its fastest cars to see it. Remember the company's camshaft-free motor that uses air pressure to open valves? It saves weight, material, and lowers resistance, meaning it's relevant for every type of car, even the cheapest of superminis. Few would have predicted such a development from a firm that regularly engineers cars with over 1,000hp.

Supercars will, however, remain the bread and butter of Koenigsegg's image. And the values of its most special models confirm just how high up the exotica ladder Koenigsegg's products can climb. Take the One:1, for example. This is as special as they come, with just six examples making production, each with those headline grabbing matched figures for maximum output and weight. 1,360hp and 1,360kg created the world's first megawatt-producing car back in 2014.

The numbers remain absurd. The One:1 uses its twin-turbocharged 5.0-litre V8 to accelerate to 248.5mph in 20 seconds. Hit the brakes and it can go from that speed back to zero in just ten. Alternatively, keep going and it'll not stop accelerating until 273mph. Find a corner and the One:1 will pull 2G laterally with up to 830kg of downforce. It's an F-22 on wheels.

Today's Showpiece does all of that, just more conveniently for those of us who drive on the left. The world's only right-hand drive One:1 is on sale in the UK and it's a prime example of Koenigsegg's best work. This blue model has had one owner from new and covered 7,100 miles, which is a little over a day's running at top speed. It looks immaculate, obviously. £5.6 million and it's yours.

See the full advert here.

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Gameface

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