Christian von Koenigsegg

Christian Erland Harald von Koenigsegg (born 2 July 1972[1]) is the founder and CEO of the Swedish high-performance automobile manufacturer Koenigsegg Automotive AB.

Christian von Koenigsegg
Born
Christian Erland Harald von Koenigsegg

(1972-07-02) 2 July 1972
Stockholm, Sweden
Known forFounder and CEO of Koenigsegg Automotive
Spouse(s)
Halldora von Koenigsegg
(
m. 2000)

In 1994, Koenigsegg launched the "Koenigsegg project" which eventually became Koenigsegg Automotive AB.[2] Designer David Crafoord provided a design concept following Koenigsegg’s guidelines. The prototype enabled the foundation of Koenigsegg Automotive AB.

Koenigsegg and his wife, Halldora von Koenigsegg, are active in the company's management.

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 from Swabia in Bavaria.[3]

von 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. von Koenigsegg 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. When he was six years old, he drove a go-kart for the first time in his life, and he vividly recalls this as "one of the best days of his life".[4]

Innovations

A novel idea of Koenigsegg is triplex suspension: a rear suspension system used in current Koenigsegg models that allows for maximum comfort and straight-line speed. It uses a transversely-mounted shock-absorber that connects the two rear wheels as well as independent suspension systems for each wheel.[5] Another innovation that the company is pursuing is free valve technology that uses electronics and air pressure to actuate intake and exhaust valves. This provides very high precision and unlimited timing control, instead of the traditional camshaft technology for their cars, allowing for engines to be much more efficient by reducing weight and size of engines, while making each cylinder able to be controlled independently, allowing for more complete combustion.[6]

References
  1. "Christian Von Koenigsegg: Swedish Automotive Entrepreneur Legend (Part 1/4)". Car Throttle.
  2. Christian, 5: Jag ska bygga en egen bil när jag blir stor, Aftonbladet, 12 June 2009 (Swedish)
  3. Ointroducerad Adels Förening (2014). Ointroducerad Adel 2015. ISBN 978-91-637-6651-0.
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-01-26. Retrieved 2013-02-19.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. "Triplex Suspension Explained - /INSIDE KOENIGSEGG - YouTube".
  6. "YouTube".
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