Christian Erland Harald von Koenigsegg (born July 2, 1972)known professionally as Christian von Koenigsegg is an automotive engineer and entrepreneur, and is the founder and CEO of the Swedish high-performance

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded ...

manufacturer Koenigsegg Automotive. In 1994, Koenigsegg launched the "Koenigsegg project" which eventually became Koenigsegg Automotive.Christian, 5: Jag ska bygga en egen bil när jag blir stor
Aftonbladet, 12 June 2009 (Swedish) Christian, together with designer David Crafoord, created a design concept following Christian's original sketches. The first

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and software programming. A prototype is generally used to ...

enabled the foundation of Koenigsegg Automotive. Koenigsegg and his wife, Halldora von Koenigsegg, are leading the company.

Early life

Christian von Koenigsegg is the son of Jesko von Koenigsegg,

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of JK Energiteknik, and fashionista Brita Aasa. The von Koenigsegg lineage is attested from CE 1171 and originates in

Swabia Swabia ; german: Schwaben , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of ...

Germanic-Roman Empire where his ancestors were knights (see

Königsegg Königsegg was a state in the southeastern part of what is now Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It emerged in 1192 as a lordship and was raised to a barony in 1470. It was partitioned in 1622 between itself, Königsegg-Aulendorf and Königsegg-Roth ...

for details). The current logo of Koenigsegg Automotive is based on the

familial coat of arms. Königsegg Scheibler37ps

Von Koenigsegg grew up in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

, and spent a year in high school in Danderyd before enrolling at

Lundsbergs boarding school Lundsbergs boarding school ( sv, Lundsbergs skola) is a Swedish boarding school located in the Parish of Storfors north of Kristinehamn in Värmland, Sweden. Lundsberg was founded in 1896 with inspirations from classical English boarding scho ...

, and then studied economics at the Scandinavian School of Brussels. He showed an interest in cars from an early age, starting at the age of five when he watched the stop-motion film '' The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix'', about a bicycle builder who built a racing car, '. When he was six years old, he drove a go-kart for the first time, and he vividly recalls this as "one of the best days of his life".

Koenigsegg Automotive

Christian von Koenigsegg founded Koenigsegg Automotive AB in 1994 in hopes of producing a "world-class" sports car. This company was financed initially with money from Christian's previous business ventures. He also received $200 thousand from the Swedish technical development board. Christian's father became an early investor and financed the operation for over 3 years. Halldora von Koenigsegg became involved in 2000 as the COO.

Innovations

Christian von Koenigsegg has come up with many innovations and several of them are patented. To name a few - the click flooring system, the Triplex rear suspension, the top mounted active rear wing system, the patented Koenigsegg synchro helix door actuation system, the patented rocket catalytic converter, the patented dual throttle compressor pressure relief system, the patented direct drive transmission, a patented hollow core composite production system, a patent pending dielectric coolant system and several patents for Freevalve — an innovation that uses electronics and air pressure to actuate intake and exhaust valves. This provides very high precision and unlimited timing control, instead of the traditional

camshaft A camshaft is a shaft that contains a row of pointed cams, in order to convert rotational motion to reciprocating motion. Camshafts are used in piston engines (to operate the intake and exhaust valves), mechanically controlled ignition systems ...

, allowing for engines to be much more efficient by reducing weight and size of engines, while making each cylinder able to be controlled independently, allowing for more complete combustion.

Personal life

Christian von Koenigsegg married Halldora von Koenigsegg in 2000. There are competing stories about where Christian and Halldora met. Some sources say that they met during their studies in Brussels, Other sources say they met while in high school. They presently have 2 sons, Sebastian and Samuel. Sebastian von Koenigsegg currently works at Koenigsegg Automotive AB as a Brand & Content Manager.

Honours

* 2014 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year in South Sweden (February 2015) * 2013 Entrepreneur Of The Year from Ängelholm Näringsliv (May 2014)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koenigsegg, Christian Von 1972 births Living people Swedish founders of automobile manufacturers Swedish people of German descent Swedish chief executives in the automobile industry