Christian von Koenigsegg

Last updated
Christian von Koenigsegg
Christian von Koenigsegg.png
Koenigsegg in 2007
Born
Christian Erland Harald von Koenigsegg

(1972-07-02) 2 July 1972 (age 52)
Stockholm, Sweden
Known forFounder and CEO of Koenigsegg Automotive
Height6 ft 1.2 in (1.86 m)
Spouse
Halldóra Tryggvadóttir
(m. 2000)
Children2
Parent(s)Jesko von Koenigsegg (father)
Brita Aasa (mother)

Christian Erland Harald von Koenigsegg (born July 2, 1972) [1] is a Swedish automotive engineer and entrepreneur. He is a descendant of the House and lineage of the Koenigsegg, a noble family from Germany. He is the founder and CEO of the Swedish high-performance automobile manufacturer Koenigsegg Automotive.

Contents

In 1994, Koenigsegg launched the "Koenigsegg project", which eventually became Koenigsegg Automotive. [2] Together with designer David Crafoord, Koenigsegg created a design concept following his original sketches. The first prototype enabled the foundation of Koenigsegg Automotive. [3] Koenigsegg and his wife, Halldóra, are leading the company. [4]

Early life

Christian von Koenigsegg is the son of Jesko von Koenigsegg, CEO of JK Energiteknik, and fashionista Brita Aasa. The von Koenigsegg lineage is attested from CE 1171 and originates in Swabia, in the Holy Roman Empire, where his ancestors were knights (see Königsegg for details). [5] The current logo of Koenigsegg Automotive is based on the Königsegg familial coat of arms. [6]

Konigsegg familial coat of arms Konigsegg Scheibler37ps.jpg
Königsegg familial coat of arms

Koenigsegg grew up in Stockholm, and spent a year in high school in Danderyd before enrolling at Lundsbergs boarding school, and then studied economics at the Scandinavian School of Brussels.[ citation needed ] He showed an interest in cars from an early age, starting at the age of five when he watched the stop-motion film The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix , about a bicycle builder who built a racing car, Il Tempo Gigante  [ nb ]. [7] When he was six years old, he drove a go-kart for the first time, and he vividly recalls this as "one of the best days of his life". [8]

Koenigsegg Automotive

Christian von Koenigsegg founded Koenigsegg Automotive AB in 1994 in hopes of producing a "world-class" sports car. This company was financed initially with money from Christian's previous business ventures. He also received $200,000 from the Swedish technical development board. Christian's father became an early investor and financed the operation for over 3 years. [4] Halldóra von Koenigsegg became involved in 2000 as the COO. [9]

Innovations

Christian von Koenigsegg has developed many innovations and is a named inventor on several patents:

US Patents
Published US Patent Applications
Swedish Patents
Other Innovations

Personal life

Christian von Koenigsegg married Halldóra Tryggvadóttir in 2000, and there are competing stories about where they met. Some sources say that they met during their studies in Brussels, [26] while other sources say they met while in high school. [9] They presently have 2 sons, Sebastian and Samuel. [26] Sebastian von Koenigsegg currently works at Koenigsegg Automotive AB as a Brand & Content Manager. [9] [27] Koenigsegg suffers from alopecia areata universalis, an autoimmune disorder in which the body turns against its own hair follicles. [28]

Honours

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The Koenigsegg TFG is an inline-3 engine. The TFG stands for "Tiny Friendly Giant." It is a Freevalve (camless piston engine), thus it does not have a camshaft. Instead it uses electro-hydraulic-pneumatic actuators that allow it to open each valve (both intake and exhaust) independently to maximise performance and minimise fuel consumption depending on driving conditions. The actuators also have the ability to switch the engine between 2- and 4-stroke cycles by controlling the number of power strokes in relation to the number of idle strokes. The patent for this system was bought by Koenigsegg's sister company Cargine Engineering in 2002. The variable displacement system allows fuel economy to be 15%-20% higher than a variable camshaft engine. Cold start emissions are also drastically reduced by 60% over a variable camshaft engine. The engine is equipped with the same turbo for each set of exhaust valves developed by van der lee Turbo Systems, So this is a switchable parallel system where at low exhaust mass flow the boost is created by one turbo and the second turbo being switched by at higher mass flow amounts, thus improving transient response. Without the turbos, Koenigsegg claims the engine is only capable of 300 hp (220 kW). The engine can operate on the Otto cycle, Miller cycle, or the Atkinson cycle. Further advantages of the camless engine is that a throttle body is no longer required because of the precision of the valve timing. According to Koenigsegg CEO Christian von Koenigsegg, when running on Gen 2.0 ethanol, the TFG becomes "at least as CO2-neutral as an EV running on renewable electric sources such as solar or wind." The TFG follows previous Koenigsegg engines in its ability to run on all major fuels, from E100 to standard gas.

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