Currently reading: A brief history of Koenigsegg

Just who is the Swedish supercar maker buying Saab?

Koenigsegg was founded in 1994 by Christian von Koenigsegg, a 22-year-old who wanted to build supercars.

He came from a wealthy family and the firm's badge is based on the Koenigsegg coat-of-arms, which has been in existence since the 16th century when a member of the family was knighted by the German-based Holy Roman Empire.

Koenigsegg showed off its first prototype, the CC, at the 2000 Paris Motor Show and its first CC 8S was delivered to a customer at the 2002 Geneva Motor Show.

Its second car, the CCR, followed a year later and it briefly held the world record for the fastest production car ever with a speed of 241.63mph, before the record was beaten by the Bugatti Veyron.

Koenigsegg’s current model line-up consists of the CCX and CCXR, and it plans to launch a four-seater electric sports car, the Quant.

The CCXR is a "green" supercar, which can run on both petrol and ethanol or any combination of the two fuels.

Currently, Koenigsegg produces 18 cars a year at its Angelholm factory in Sweden. It sells its cars across Europe, Asia and North America and they have been designed to meet world-wide saftey regualtions.

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