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Koenigsegg Australia sells two Jesko hypercars at $6m+ each; 30-50 cars a year planned going forward

That's right, two people have laid down their hard earned for a bonkers Swedish hypercar in Australia. The brand isn't stopping there, though, with plans to seriously ramp up its local sales over the next three years.


Koenigsegg has big plans in Australia, having already sold at least two Jesko hypercars at a staggering $6.5 million each, ahead of plans to expand sales to between 30 and 50 cars a year when a range of more affordable models come Down Under in 2021.

Speaking exclusively this week to CarAdvice at the Geneva motor show, the brand’s head of distribution, Nicholas Batzialas, discussed the journey of getting Koenigsegg to Australia with factory support.

“It has taken us three years to establish Koenigsegg in Australia. It was no walk in the park, we have faced some interesting challenges,” Batzialas said.

In fact, Batzialas and his team were the first in the world to place a customer order on the new Jesko (codenamed Ragnarok) back in November 2017, with the car destined for its Melbourne home within the next 12 months.

All cars heading to Australia will be fully homologated right-hand drive models, and can be registered for the road with manufacturer plates under the low-volume import system, which is reserved for carmakers delivering fewer than 100 cars annually.

Of the roughly $6.5 million price tag, almost half is accounted for up by luxury car tax, GST and import duties.

With Australia’s love of high-performance vehicles, Batzialas believes brands like Ferrari and Lamborghini no longer offer the exclusivity they did decades ago, forcing ultra-high net worth individuals seeking something truly unique to look at a higher price point, and allowing Koenigsegg to justify engineering cars for right-hand drive markets, which make up 30 per cent of the company’s current sales.

“Christian [von Koenigsegg] is leading the philosophy there, if you were a business and you said you could increase your market by 30 per cent [by producing right-hand drive vehicles] you would take it," Batzialas said.

For now, the Swedish supercar maker with close ties to NEVS, the successor to Saab, is making roughly 20 cars per year.

Thanks to a recent capital injection, that number is likely to increase to 1000 per year as more affordable models appear over the next 24 months.

“The plans are to increase production to 1000 cars, that’s a huge leap from 20 cars a year, a huge, huge announcement – [we will have] a million dollar car. At the moment our target was initially one a year, but with an increase of production the sky is not the limit but if we do get to a 1000 a year, I would say Australia would be able to take 30 cars a year, maybe 50 cars a year … that’s where we see the vision.”

The new range of hybrid hypercars will be roughly around $1 million landed in Australia, filling a gap currently existing in the market.

“At the moment that opens up another market for us in between Lamborghini, Ferrari and McLaren price range to where Koenigsegg and Pagani are at the moment, it closes the gap and opens up a more attainable segment.”

This new ‘affordable’ hypercar will be unveiled at next year’s Geneva motor show, with production slated for 2021.

Perhaps most interestingly, Koenigsegg is able to convert any of its existing cars from left-hand drive to right-hand drive for about US$100,000, so buyers can commission Koenigsegg Australia to find them a European pre-owned vehicle, convert it to right-hand drive and comply it for our market, opening a huge opportunity for the brand locally.

Buoyed by their success selling Jeskos in Victoria and Queensland, Batzialas says his team is working on expanding the Koenigsegg network to Sydney and New Zealand. They will also distribute the Rimac brand, with other niche brands likely to follow.

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