This is it: Koenigsegg’s 1,500bhp production Regera

By topgear ,

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We saw the concept version at last year’s show. This year, they’ve brought along the real thing: Internet, meet your new hero, the 1,500bhp, production-ready Koenigsegg Regera. Yep, that’s more power than the Bugatti Chiron…

Not much has changed in the 12 months since we first met the Regera. Well, apart from the three thousand revisions Koenigsegg has made from the concept car to the production version you see above.

The baseline then, is as follows: the Regera sits on a highly modified Agera chassis, significantly changed to accommodate a 4.5kWh battery pack – able to discharge 525kW – mounted in the centre of the car, which is 25kg lighter than the concept car’s battery.

There’s a new high voltage AC charger, a smaller 800v compressor and a new compact, lightweight 800v DC/DC converter, which saves yet more weight.

Then of course, comes the mighty 5.0-litre, twin-turbo V8 that sits proudly in the middle of the car, that together with the triplet of electric motors (one on each rear wheel, one on the crank), send 1,500 horses and 1,475lb ft of torque to the rear wheels. More power than that new Bugatti, and it’s not four-wheel drive. Nuts.

The Regera features Koenigsegg’s ‘Direct Drive’ system in place of any regular transmission. From take off, a hydraulic coupling opens, and you power off purely on electric drive. Once it gains a few revs, the coupling begins to close, and the crank-mounted motor joins in to fill out the bottom part of the torque curve. For the production version, Koenigsegg has introduced a clutch-slip mechanism, that uses the hydraulic coupling to convert torque during fast acceleration.

And it boasts some pretty astonishing acceleration as a result. 0-62mph takes 2.8 seconds, 0-124mph takes just 6.6secs, and 0-186mph takes 10.9secs. 93mph to 155mph takes just 3.9secs. Though no top speed has been quoted, Koenigsegg estimates that 0-249mph is done and dusted in 20 seconds. Sheesh.

There’s all sorts of aero going on around the body, too: witness the monster side scoops, the front diffuser arrangement and the sleek bodywork.

There’s also a foldable top-mounted rear wing and an active elements, including varying shock absorber stiffness front and back and aero flaps underneath the car - both left and right - that you can control individually as on the One:1. The front tyres are also wider than the rears, to compensate for the weight distribution of that battery pack.

Inside there’s a 9.1-inch infotainment system, with Apple CarPlay fitted, and six-way adjustable carbon memory seats, too. Elsewhere, you’ll find that you can remotely operate the doors, as well as the front and rear bonnets, and there are additional compartments for the driver and passenger. The wing mirrors fold automatically when the doors open, there are rear and side cameras as well as the option of a front facing camera to give a birds-eye view.

Want one? The Regera’s base price is $1,890,000 - just over £1.2m - and Christian is only building 80 units. “We’ve already sold four even before anybody has seen the car,” he told us last year, “so the mood for this feels very positive”.

So positive, he’s taken even more orders since its show debut last year. Does this 1,500bhp Koenigsegg with its direct drive system change the hypercar game? Or are you sticking with the Chiron?