CanadaThe press days are over. Our voices are gone and our feet will never be the same again. But it’s worth every aching muscle and bone when you see those three magnificent cars sitting proudly on the Koenigsegg stage at Geneva.
The Agera RS in Loke Yellow, the ‘One of 1’ in Alba Orange and the Regera in Candy Apple Red on our classic white show space made for a beautiful, warm, colourful display. Gentlemen must doff their hats to the job done by our brilliant Art Director, Lisa, in designing such a beautiful stand. The Swedish white scheme allows the cars to shine just as they’re supposed to.
And did it draw a crowd? Absolutely. The stand was crazy busy both days, the second day even busier than the first.
Day 1 was all about the press conference, the big reveal.
We were pretty happy with the fact that the details of two of our three cars were pretty much unknown leading up to the show. The element of surprise – so rare in these days of social media – was nicely preserved. We had the covers off the cars in the morning and we’d released the press materials the night before, so the ‘unveiling’ during the press conference was more ceremonial than surprising on the day, but there was a sense of excitement when the press conference came around.
The press conference was great. We had a little music beforehand and Halldora (that’s Mrs von Koenigsegg to you) was dancing with the journalists. Christian had threatened to bust a move the night before but we warned him off Our unofficial soundtrack for this year’s show has been Hello Hello by The Cat Empire. If you’ve never heard it, you’ll understand why the Koenigsegg stand has been such a happy place this year.
Here’s the press conference as recorded by our friends at GTboard. Dancing not included. It’s 18 minutes long so grab a tasty beverage and settle in:
Press days at Geneva are about two things – meeting people from the motoring and lifestyle press that are lucky enough to attend, and meeting with clients. We did plenty of both.
On the client side, shows like Geneva are about showing them our vehicles up close in an exciting setting. As Geneva is usually the place where our new models make their debut, it’s an exclusive opportunity for clients to see the car first hand. As such, it’s an extremely important show for us and many of our sales have their beginnings at events like Geneva.
How much buzz does it generate? Well, I can’t talk about orders taken and realistically, we won’t know for a few months how many orders began here, but I can say that we’ve had to decline almost a year’s worth of requests for new Ageras. The Agera range is now sold out and while it hurts to knock back new business, principles are principles.
On the press side, we did a lot of interviews and answered plenty of questions about all three cars. The majority of the buzz was around the production spec Regera, which stunned the crowd like any 1500hp petrol/electric world-crushing toffee apple should.
The press reaction has been outstanding, too. We put so much work into designing and building our cars to be the absolute best sports cars in the world. It’s nice when others recognise it.
Of course, the timing of the production-spec Regera has coincided with the release of the Bugatti Chiron and comparisons between the two by the press are inevitable. We’re quite comfortable with where those comparisons stand. They are interesting from an outsider’s point of view but less interesting for us. As long as we’ve got an outstanding quality car, we’re satisfied. The competition is perhaps 40% real and 60% confected by the press. The reality is that there are few customers who have to make a choice between a Regera and a Chiron. Most who can afford one, can afford both.
It’s nice to have a benchmark, however. It keeps you on your toes and any contest, whether friendly or otherwise, needs a worthy opponent. And we have plenty of those across the Agera and Regera segments, which is great.
by Steven Wade/ Koenigsegg
