Other supercar makers are busy expanding out into the world of SUVs, but Koenigsegg is just now getting around to introducing its first two-door with four seats. And if you're worried that means a muddying of the purity of performance the Swedish brand is built on, fear not because the "world's first mega-GT" is an all-out performance machine like every Koenigsegg before it. In fact, the all-new Gemera packs some of Koenigsegg's most impressive tech, including a gearbox-free KDD powertrain with a small camless Freevalve twin-turbo. It won't be the fastest Koenigsegg of all time, but it will be among the world's fastest cars, blowing away other four-seat GTs in virtually every performance category.
Most automotive brands would consider debuting their fastest car of all time, the de facto fastest car in the world, a pretty complete motor show appearance. But Koenigsegg loves to dazzle Geneva Motor Show crowds with something extra, and this year's debut slate might be the most impressive it's ever shown, even without an actual Geneva Motor Show to host the event.
Christian von Koenigsegg shakes up the top end of the performance car market once again, this time with his first production four-seater. And he seems to mean an actual four-seater, not a coupe with two rear seats unfit to hold a pair of chihuahuas. The company says that the Gemera will comfortably fit four large adults plus luggage, a claim we'd have to test to believe, but a claim that many other automakers wouldn't even want to make at all about their high-performance 2+2s. Furthermore, it's loaded the quad cabin with features like front and rear infotainment, dual wireless phone chargers, onboard Wi-Fi, three climate zones, a premium 11-speaker sound system, and both a warm and cold cupholder for every occupant.
Koenigsegg envisions the Gemera as a comfy Sunday tourer or even a family car for those who simply refuse to drive anything less than an elite, world-beating performance car. It even offers Isofix points for the rear seats.
"Ultimate performance has belonged to the world of two-seaters with very limited luggage space – until now," Christian von Koenigsegg says. "The Gemera is a completely new category of car where extreme megacar meets spacious interior and ultimate environmental consciousness. We call it a mega-GT."
Despite the weight that the extra seats and features add over a stripped-down hyper-coupe (curb weight: 4,080 lb/1,850 kg), the Gemera offers furious performance thanks to a four-unit powertrain that puts out 1,700 hp, e.g. the 1.27 megawatts that makes it a "mega-GT." The Koenigsegg Direct Drive (KDD) hybrid layout is much the same as in the Regera, a single electric motor at each rear wheel and a third affixed to the engine's crankshaft. But unlike the Regera and its 1,100-hp twin-turbo V8, the Gemera gets the bulk (1,100 bhp) of its power from the electric motor trio, sizing the mid-engine down to an efficient twin-turbo 2.0-liter three-cylinder that sends up to 600 hp to the front axle.
If 600 hp still sounds like an awful lot of output for a 2.0-liter three, turbos or not, that's because the newly developed engine Koenigsegg calls the "Tiny Friendly Giant" (TFG) is assisted along by Freevalve's camshaft-free design. In place of the mechanical camshaft valve operation of a traditional internal combustion engine, the Freevalve system uses a combination of advanced sensors and electro-hydraulic-pneumatic actuators to control the intake and exhaust valves independently based on driving conditions, helping to improve performance, eliminate inefficiencies and reduce emissions.
Meanwhile, the three electric motors supply the instant torque needed for crazy-quick 1.9-second 0-62 mph (100 km/h) sprints, territory typically reserved for boundary-pushing all-electric two-seaters like the new Tesla Roadster or Aspark Owl. Koenigsegg also promises record-level 0-400 km/h (249 mph) capabilities, which tells us the car's top speed is 249 mph or higher, meaning this four-seat GT would blow away most two-seaters not specifically designed for world record speed.
Since we imagine most Gemera owners will want to do more than 0-400-0 sprints all day, the rear-wheel steering system has been engineered to enhance handling through all the corners, twists and unexpected obstacles of road and track. Throw in all-wheel torque vectoring and the car provides ultra-responsive, thrilling and stable performance, whether you're out for track day or just taking the long way home from the grocery store. The 15-kWh battery pack can power the car in all-electric mode for up to 31 miles (50 km) before the engine kicks in up to 590 more miles (950 km).
Styling-wise, the Gemera's silhouette gets some tweaks from the usual Koenigsegg mid-engine coupe, its visual center tugged slightly back toward the rear by a long, flowing roofline that transitions into a modest upturned spoiler. The rear design flexes its power in layers, strong haunches capped off by sharp, narrow LED taillights, underpinned by large air vents, themselves hovering over a big split diffuser. Above and forward from the crisply pinched spoiler, the exhaust tips penetrate through the bodywork surrounding the small trapezoidal windscreen.
The Gemera has the usual broad Koenigsegg front-end, albeit with a touch more nose. The design was inspired by Koenigsegg's first-ever prototype, the 1996 CC, but gets modernized with narrow LED headlights and a large grille with aerodynamic fins and channels. The car rides on the latest nine-spoke iteration of Koenigsegg's AirCore carbon fiber wheels.
Koenigsegg plans to build 300 Gemera cars and has designed the car for worldwide homologation with six smart airbags, stability control, ABS and an ADAS 2.0 driver-assistance system.
Source: Koenigsegg
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