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Koenigsegg revisits its original 1996 prototype vehicle

The original Koenigsegg prototype vehicle recently returned to the company’s factory for a brief visit as part of retrospective photo shoot.


According to the Swedish supercar maker, work began on the prototype back in 1994, but it took two years to complete.

The prototype hasn’t always existed in its current form. It was initially finished in silver paint and featured normally hinged doors. When these were replaced with “an early version of Koenigsegg’s unique dihedral synchro-helix door mechanism”, some “light butchering” of the body was required, necessitating a respray in black.

Black proved hard to maintain, however, so Christian van Koenigsegg arranged for a local detailer to respray the car in an orange he thought would be similar to a hue used by Volvo at the time. Unfortunately, as all of the leg work was done over the phone, the car was actually repainted in the brown colour we see today.

As with later Koenigsegg models, the original prototype features an engine mounted behind the driver and passenger. In this case, the motor used is a contemporary 4.2-litre V8 from Audi, which is hooked up to a six-speed manual transmission. The prototype rides on three-piece BBS alloy wheels.

The Koenigsegg prototype made its debut at a track with racing driver Rickard Rydell behind the wheel. Nowadays, the original Koenigsegg prototype vehicle is usually on display at the Motala Motormuseum, located around 200 kilometres south-west of Stockholm.

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