The beautiful country of Sweden is known for it’s tasty chocolate, their envious work-life balance philosophy, and fantastic engineering — more specifically their fantastic auto engineering. You’re familiar with names like Volvo and Saab, but have you heard of Koenigsegg?

The luxury automaker builds high-tech hyper cars that are fast, furious, and equal parts colorful and equal parts luxurious. However, what stands out most about this car company is its humble beginnings, their excellent craftsmanship, and their records that show it all.

Twenty-two year old Christian von Koenigsegg was on a mission to create the perfect sports car that flawlessly entwined technology and innovation with the signature luxury looks of a sports car. The prototype of the first model, named the CC, was taken on a test drive to the swanky Cannes Film Festival in 1997. Reactions from film stars, movie critics and directors were overwhelmingly positive, due in part to the vehicle’s uniqueness in its detachable and storable roof that was fully integrated in the coupe shape. Since so many people requested this car, Koenigsegg put it into production. From that point on, the Koenigsegg Car Company was born.

Since it’s inception, Koenigsegg’s cars have broken multiple records. When the company was just in startup mode, Koenigsegg’s CC8S model was awarded the title “The World’s Most Powerful Production Car Ever,” by Guinness World Records in 2002. That same year, Jeremy Clarkson of BBC’s television show “Top Gear” named the CC8S model to be his favorite supercar. Three years later, Koenigsegg’s CCR model — which was an evolution of the CC8S model — became the fastest production car in the world. After just a few short years of being in business, Koenigsegg’s unique designs, innovations and multiple recognitions launched the company even further than Christian ever imagined.

Their Philosophy

It’s easy to say that Koenigsegg has only one main focus for its cars: its performance. According to Koenigsegg’s website, “Every aspect of the development process is focused on performance, not only in terms of power and speed, but in every deliverable. From powertrain to safety – every part must enable the car to deliver the best possible performance.”

Because Koenigsegg takes their performance standards seriously, careful thought goes into every single decision that’s made with the company. From materials, to staff hirings to the software and setup of facilities, Koenigsegg takes great care in producing a product they’re proud of.

Because of Koenigsegg’s rigorous standards, every auto part in every model is made with great love and passion and is “painstakingly built by a select group of automotive artisans to the highest possible standards.” What’s even better about Koenigsegg? There are only about 40 “automotive artisans” employed by the company, meaning the staff can entirely be directly supervised by Christian himself.

Stay tuned to my blog for more automaker profiles!