The average transaction price for a new car in July was just under $49,000, according to Cox Automotive. So when someone talks about whether a car is “obtainable,” that’s usually the number that pops into my head, give or take a few thousand bucks. If the average buyer can afford 49 grand, then that feels like an attainable number, right?
The word “obtainable” can mean different things to different people, especially in the context of cars. Personally, I don’t think it’s attainable for me to drop nearly $50,000 on a depreciating asset like a car. But other people might have no qualms about dropping that kind of cash on a new luxury SUV, based on their financial situation.
I bring this up because Christian von Koenigsegg, the founder and CEO of—you guessed it—Koenigsegg, recently gave an interview to CarBuzz, speaking on the possibility of his brand turning to higher-volume, less expensive products. From the article:
[S]peaking to CarBuzz at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July, Christian suggested a more affordable Koenigsegg sports car wasn’t entirely off the table.
“The question is, should Koenigsegg be making a city car?” says Christian, before quickly pivoting to an interesting statement:
“We’ve been dabbling with the idea of maybe going up in volume, making simpler, more obtainable sports cars.”
This quote requires some important context. Koenigsegg sells some of the most expensive cars on the planet. The car in the top graphic, the CC850, starts at $3.65 million, according to Bloomberg. It also builds fewer than 100 cars per year.
So while Christian doesn’t elaborate on what he means by “going up in volume” or “obtainable,” I have a strong feeling he doesn’t mean he wants to build a Miata competitor (even though he himself owns an NA Miata, because he’s a Real One). Obtainable, in this case, probably means something under a million bucks. Obtainable for a few more ultra-wealthy people, but not for you or me. CarBuzz speculates the so-called obtainable Koenigsegg might fall into the same realm as cars like the McLaren Artura and the new Porsche 911 Turbo S, which makes sense.
If such a product is greenlit, it probably wouldn’t show up for a long time. From the interview:
Christian is very aware that you don’t scale car production a hundredfold overnight. In his own words, “We think we need to take it very much step by step, not to stumble.”
But that doesn’t mean a more affordable Koenigsegg is off the table entirely. “We’ll see. Maybe one day [we’ll do it],” says Christian.
CarBuzz seems to think that a cheaper Koenigsegg would likely use the company’s funky three-cylinder powerplant, which would make sense. The mill can make 600 horsepower on its own, or up to 1,700 horsepower when combined with the brand’s wild hybrid system. But considering no one wanted the three-cylinder in Koenigsegg’s other car, the Gemera, I’m not sure why buyers would feel differently in the “entry level” Koenigsegg. Customers have famously voiced their disdain for cars like the Ferrari 296, which uses a V6 in place of its predecessor’s V8.
That being said, if Koenigsegg announced a $700,000 three-cylinder supercar tomorrow, it’d sell out in minutes. That’s the power of having an elite brand cache. So long as the car also has the CC850’s wild simulated manual gearbox, I’d be on the list of buyers, too (if, in this theoretical wonderland, I also had a million to spend on a car).
Top graphic image: Koenigsegg
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I want a $40,000 midsize Koenigsegg sedan so bad…
Back when SAAB still existed, there were talks of Von Koenigsegg and a few other swedish investors buying the company and running it independently, but that obviously fell through.
A modern take on the saab 99 or 9000, a luxurious executive car overengineered to the same extent as the average Koenigsegg would be exquisite.
Wait, he said city car. Somebody call Mazda. They donate a bunch of Mazda 2s to this guy, he helps them develop the next RX-7, everybody wins
I’ve never seen one in the wild. A friend saw one in a large collection near me. She said she’d get me in to see it, but that never happened. On the basis of how many cars are in the collection, very few miles are probably driven in any given car.
It’s even cooler than that, he’s now owned the exact same NA Miata three times. IIRC he bought in it high school, sold it around the time his company was getting started up, bought it back a few years later, sold it a second time a couple of years later, and recently (2022ish?) bought it back and still drives it regularly, sometimes as much as 3 days a week to the factory.
Can only imagine what he paid to get it back…
“ If the average buyer can afford 49 grand, then that feels like an attainable number, right?”
The average buyer cannot afford 49 grand.
I got 49 bucks.
You’re right they can’t, that’s why the average car loan in Q2 2025 was 68.87 months, nearly 6 years, with record high percentages of 72 and 84 month loans getting issued regularly. Because so many people are completely financially illiterate, and “I can afford $600/mo but $XYZ/mo for 4 years is too expensive” which ends up with several thousand in extra interest on a depreciating asset.
Idiots shop by monthly payment and it’s propping this entire shit show up. Can Brad or Becky who make $60,000 a year afford to buy their $90,000 Yukon? Of course not.
But when the fast talking finance guy comes back and shows them $999 a month they sign on the dotted line and don’t even read on to figure out that it’s a 96 month loan (that’s subsidized by GM!) at 15% interest.
Then two years later they’re sitting in front of Caleb Hammer asking why they can’t afford groceries….
As a GMC salesman, can confirm minus the trying to hit the payment. People ask for that $100k Yukon and we show numbers and they sign. Yukon people HAVE to have the newest one or they buy used. It’s insane how little they negotiate on the big ticket items
If people bought cars they could afford car prices would go down. Instead people buy cars they can “afford to finance”. Same with education.
Anything that gets more Freevalve engines out there would be good. I could see them going for something like the BMW i8, a nice sub-supercar that you can drive in EV-only cities.
What EV-only cities are there?
The centers of some Euro cities allow EVs but restrict ICEs.
Hmm, I wonder if this newfound interest in a lower-end market has anything to do with the shenanigans of a certain multi-level marketing executive.
Is it a good or a bad thing that pretty much all Koenigseggs look similar? The general shape has been more or less the same since the early 2000s when they released the CC8. Is it just that they found that particular shape was best for aerodynamics and handling, or did they want an iconic look like the 911, or what? I suppose I could ask the same question of Pagani too.
Diving peregrine falcon shape!
Eh this brand has never interested me at all. Cars by the 1% (Christian is a nepo baby too IIRC), for the 1%. They’re meant to be stored in state of the art facilities and trailered out once in a blue moon to grace an auction stage or be used as a prop. I feel like I’d get tackled by a team of Blackwater mercenaries just for breathing on one.
The ultra, ultra rich want to branch out and make a fancy toy for the merely ultra rich to measure their dicks with. Yawn.
I have one in the shed, for sale. It has nearly 90 000 miles on the clock, and a full factory service history. It’s owner delighted in taking it to be checked over every year. She is terrible at reading maps though, it turns out that Istanbul is not in Sweden, neither is Graz, or Aberystwyth. The vendor is a sixty something year old accountant, she bought it after good year, children finally settled elswhere, sudden unexpected death of husband……. crisis, buy a CCR.
If you’re not into Koenigsegg’s, you’re not into cars. Price aside, they’ve invented some of the coolest car tech over the last 20 years.
Yes, I’m glad Mr Koenigsegg makes these, and I’m glad people give him money for them rather than simply using the funds for consolidating their control. Also, taxes get paid!
But mostly I’m happy they exist, and that Mr Koenigsegg came up with the technology in them.
I am also happy that Jackson Pollock paintings exist. I will never own the cars or the paintings but that’s fine. Being responsible for either would be a pain anyway.
From all accounts Mr Koenigsegg is a much happier guy than Mr Pollock, so good for him.
Attainable for me without a home equity loan is Shitbox Showdown most days.
We are lucky to have a home equity loan as an option. For me, the money left after paying the bills and buying food has gone down in the last 10+ years. Fortunately, because corporations are fighting each other to buy homes like mine, I have equity to tap if I have to.
My neighbors that are renting homes are not building equity for the time later in their careers that wages stagnate and ‘match inflation’
Nimby ass comment