Seven-figure deposits put down for Australia-bound Koenigseggs

The rush to be among the first Australians to own the world’s most powerful car is proving to be competitive.

Boutique Swedish supercar brand Koenigsegg will begin importing its superlative hypercar range into Australia from later this year, after announcing a new deal with local distributor Prodigy Automotive and Melbourne-based dealer group Lorbek Luxury Cars.

motoring.com.au can reveal that at least one Australian buyer has put down a deposit ahead of the marque’s official Australian launch in June. Several other suitors are said to be ready with cheque book in hand.

Koenigsegg's first offering in Australia will be the Regera, on sale abroad since 2016. It will be followed up by an as-yet unnamed offering that is attracting big deposits in Oz.

“A ballpark figure would be $1 million as a final deposit,” said Koenigsegg’s Australian marketing director Harry Hamann of the mystery hypercar.

“If the factory cannot supply it, they’ll simply say they cannot do it. We’re expecting delivery  on the initial car to be late 2019.

“We’re speaking to a few people. We expect those other deliveries late 2019 to early-2020 and mid-2020.”

What’s more incredible is that the car in question hasn’t been revealed, at least publicly. Instead, Koenigsegg will reveal its replacement to the 865kW/1280Nm Agera RS at next year’s Geneva motor show. It is expected to be even more advanced than the outgoing model, which recently set an unofficial top speed record of 447km/h.

“The Agera RS is already the fastest car in the world, not just the fastest but also the best,” Hamann said. “We have very few details on the replacement car so we’re just as keen to see what it offers.”

Like many of the life’s high-flying arrangements, the deal to import the world’s fastest cars into Australia happened out of the blue.

Prodigy Automotive had been working directly with the Swedish firm’s founder, Christian von Koenigsegg, on factory-backed sales strategy for Australia.

With a deal struck and the wheels of the project suddenly in motion, Prodigy reached out to Lorbek a few weeks ago and offered the Melbourne Group the dealership rights.

Hamann revealed that prospective buyers have shown every interest in registering their Koenigseggs in Australia for use on public roads, not mothballing them or simply booking out track days.

“They have the intention of registering them, absolutely. We’re going to see these cars on public roads – probably the first time we’ll see a hypercar registered and used on the road in this country,” Hamann said.

“It stands to reason that if we have these sorts of cars finally offered then we’re going to see other manufacturers building right-hand drive, too.

“Our success will create more competition in the local market.”

Koenigsegg’s impending arrival coincides with Italian brand Pagani launching a separate Australian sales assault. Pagani has wagered a deal with Melbourne’s Zagame Automotive group to offer a handful of Huayra Roadsters, each priced at a princely $5.5 million.

Zagame Automotive had been tipped as the insider to nab the Koenigsegg deal – it already distributes Ferrari, Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin and Lamborghini, for instance – but Lorbek had other ideas.

“We will shift quite a few of these cars and probably more than the factory expects,” Hamann said, noting the investment potential for current Koenigsegg models.

“They only build 20 to 30 cars a year, if we’re lucky we might be able to get 10 to 15 per cent of their production, which translates to between three and five cars.

“Whether we’ll be able to supply the demand is another question.”

Hamann distanced the two hypercar brands, based on the fact the Koenigsegg uses mostly in-house components.

“It’s a very different car to the Pagani,” he said. “The fact is Koenigsegg are one of the only manufacturers that makes everything in house – their gearboxes, engines and everything. The only thing not made in-house is the tyres.”

“The quality of these cars far exceeds anything else.”