A black supercar ... with green undercarriage, Koenigsegg's CCXR

I don't know how many more letters Koenigsegg will keep on adding to their different model names, but one can't deny their last CCXR, unveiled in Geneva is a very interesting twist, an ethanol powered 1000hp+ engine. Crazy swedes.
Oh before we get started, did I mention the CCXR's stage name? You know, Ferrari calls its 599GTB the "Fiorano" (please, say that with an italian accent and gesticulating wildly), Chrysler calls its SRT-10 the "Viper" (use a deep grumpy voice, complemented with an evil muuuhahahahahaha) ... and Koenigsegg calls the CCXR ... get this ... "Flower Power". Completely ridiculous, just like a lion wearing a clown's red nose is ridiculous. You know it devoured the clown minutes earlier. This being said, the Koenigsegg is cuter, as flowers go in one end, and puppies come out the exhaust, how nice is that?

I like this environmentally responsible trend, using renewable bio-fuels, they have close to zero publicity yet are a technically valid solution. Just ask Brazil, 80% of the new cars sold are Ethanol ready. Sure, you have to grow a lot of crops, but as previously mentioned, the only emissions are puppies. Golden retriever puppies. I already hear the nay-sayers "but ethanol has 33% less energy than conventional gasoline and makes your mileage go down 30%!" ... I say think of the puppies ... no emissions and renewable, who cares how much you need of it. Well, yes, your wallet is bothered.

This brings a good point in terms of performance, though. Koenigsegg achieved 1018hp(!) on a 1/3 less energetic power source. Don't come up saying "well, they could've gotten 1350hp if it ran on gas", as it's not that simple. Pure ethanol (E100) or the usual E85 actually has a higher octane rating (I would've loved to know the CCXR's compression ratio ... must be through the roof!) and runs cooler than oil-derived gasoline! Best of all, previous CCRs and CCXs can be retrofitted with ethanol ready components. The mileage will probably go from 8mpg (?) to -500mpg, but Koenigsegg definitely took a step towards the future with this, as I'm sure many other manufacturers will step up to the plate. Ethanol sure looks like a far better alternative than 100% electric like Venturi's Fetish or Tesla.



It may go unnoticed, as it's a fair bit smaller than the supercharged V8, but Koenigsegg's iPod integration is great. No more head unit, all controls go through the iPod (yes, the radio somehow plugs into the iPod). Hop in, plus your iPod and you're all set.

They definitely leaped in front of the competition in terms of innovations, 2007 sounds like Koenigsegg's year thus far!


-Julien