2008 Koenigsegg CCXR

This car, Lot 122, sold for $825,000, including buyer’s premium, as part of the Pinnacle Portfolio at RM Sotheby’s sale in Monterey, CA, on August 13, 2015.

Koenigsegg’s CCXR was the first “green” supercar. It wouldn’t get 100 miles to the gallon or stop the decline of the honey bee population, but it could run on E85 or E100 biofuel. It did so more powerfully and efficiently than on premium pump gas (1,018 horsepower compared to 806 hp and 782 pound-feet of torque versus 679 pound-feet).

Recent hybrid supercars from Ferrari, McLaren and Porsche are all at least six years behind the small Swedish company’s efforts in terms of product to market. Those companies, however, have a distinct advantage in production scale.

To get the car to run on bio-ethanol, Koenigsegg took the standard CCX and added some “Flower Power” to it. Their words, not mine. Modified fuel injectors, piston rings and extra boost from the superchargers were the major tweaks Koenigsegg engineers performed.

If only the rest of us could get a 26% horsepower increase by filling up with the quasi-renewable fuel.

All of the attention, but none of the action

The CCX line shut down in 2010. Several replacement models have rolled out of Koenigsegg’s Ängelholm, Sweden, plant, with the Regera and Agera RS the current models.

But the accolades for the CCX persist. Our culture is as image-conscious/obsessive as ever. Awards, recognition and rarity are as important to high-end buyers today as racing victories were when you could actually buy a race car from the dealer.

Sadly, this car was only a showpiece for the first seven years of its existence. I’m sure those 441 miles on the clock went by in a blink, but that’s life for most hypercars. This car’s limits are extreme, and a lot of space — and a world-class radar detector — is required to even approach them. Where, except a race track or a handful of places on earth, can anyone even attempt a high-speed run?

Very minor celebrity

This is one of two cars (along with chassis 072) to appear towards the end of 2011’s “Fast Five,” the fifth movie in the massively popular and profitable “The Fast and the Furious” series. Our subject car appeared with stars Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris.

Our subject car is a little different from the other eight CCXRs because in 2009 — when the first owner bought it — Koenigsegg replaced the wheels, updated the dash pod and added federalizing side markers. That Florida-based owner received this factory-modified car in early 2010. The second owner upgraded the suspension to Agera-level specifications.

It’s differences like this that often distinguish one ultra-rare car from others of the same model. However, there are more distinguished and even rarer CCXRs than our subject car. The track-oriented CCXR Edition (of which there are four), the triple-white CCXR Trevita (two) and finally the CCXR Special Edition (two) are all based on the standard CCXR with various suspension, aerodynamic and engine upgrades.

Where’s the money?

Did rarity or movie fame make a difference in the bidding when the car crossed the RM Sotheby’s block in Monterey? Well, no.

RM Sotheby’s pre-sale estimate was $900k to $1.3 million, making this car a relative deal at $825k. Yes, it did bring the highest price ever for a Koenigsegg at auction. It won’t hold that record for too long — they never do.

This line descends from the car that bested McLaren’s vaunted F1 production-car top-speed record. In 2005, a CCR reached 241 mph, a mark that the Bugatti Veyron topped just two months later. Bugatti and Koenigsegg have traded tit for tat ever since, with a smattering of other top-speed competitors popping up every now and again.

The CCXR is special now, and that means special in the future. The CCXR is not at the F1’s level yet, but remember, those McLarens weren’t $7m–$14m just a few years after they rolled off the factory floor.

On the rare occasion a Koenigsegg makes the news or is advertised for sale, it’s often accompanied by an ostentatious price tag.

Floyd Mayweather paid $4.8m for one of two CCXR Trevitas earlier this year. Less than a handful of Koenigseggs sold at auction over the past decade. Our subject car is the only one this year — the same number as McLaren’s F1 and much less than the number of Veyrons hitting the market.

From posters to wallpaper to sale records

Speaking of the future: The desktop background on my home laptop? The Koenigsegg One:1. I’ve saved Koenigsegg wallpaper on every computer I’ve owned since high school. This certainly makes me a fanboy, and there are surely more fanboys out there right now — and some of them are starting to make the kind of money it takes to jump from a poster on the wall to a real car parked in the garage.

The next generation is coming. Millennials now range from squirrely 15-year-olds to 33-year-old engineers, lawyers, tech geniuses and bond traders. Many of us are transitioning from a paycheck-to-paycheck mentality to a net-worth mentality.

The day is coming when we will compete — hard — to own the real cars that once lived only on our walls, computer screens and imaginations. This Koenigsegg will be one of those cars, and it will soar. ♦

(Introductory description courtesy of RM Sotheby’s.)