Affluent Page - Index

Affluent Page - affluentpage - Index

the ride
The number of car lovers who
can break out the checkbook to
put a CCX in their garage is
very limited.
pects who were treated to high-performance
rides in excess of 150 miles per hour.
“A lot of exotic cars you have to work at
driving, but you don’t have to work at driving
this fast,” says General Sales Manager Michael
Nelson, who has driven the McLaren F1 and
ridden in the Enzo. “The McLaren was fast, but
Mercedes-ish, and the Enzo has a rough, racecar
ride. The Koenigsegg is a supercar that’s good
on the track, not a track car that’s a supercar.”
Exotic Cars at Caesars Palace has 12 or so
CCXs available each year at current list prices
of $1 million. Pre-owned resales are hitting $1.2
million, vastly limiting the number of car lovers
who can break out the checkbook to put a
CCX in their garage.
“This car appeals to the super elite, literally to
the crowd from Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,”
Nelson says, adding that customers range from
affluent buyers seeking to drive “the best” to
collectors who store the cars in garages.
For CCX drivers, the factory warranty and
service program is the best of any premium
brand. At five years and unlimited miles, it easily
surpasses competitors by two or more years—a
potential savings of tens of thousands of dollars.
If you don’t live near Sin City, there are several
regional service centers to choose among, all
being contracted to provide factory-trained staff
to care for Koenigsegg vehicles.
Designer Christian von Koenigsegg was 27
when he founded Koenigsegg Automotive AB
in 1993. Three years later, the company had its
first prototype, and after several years of development
and testing, showed its first car at the
2000 Paris Motor Show. The first customer
took delivery in 2002, as the company began
production of a half-dozen vehicles per year.
“All we can do is show that a small factory like
ours can produce a car that’s able to compete
with the longer-established supercar makers,”
von Koenigsegg told a British magazine after
breaking the speed record. That record was eventually
surpassed by the Bugatti Veyron, which
was, in turn, outrun by the SSC Ultimate Aero
last year. This battle of the supercars bears a striking
resemblance to professional boxing: Each set
its record in different locations and with essentially
different sanctioning bodies. The Veyron’s
record was set on the Volkswagen/Audi-owned
Ehra-Lessen circuit, which features a five-and-ahalf
mile straightaway, and the SSC record was
set on a closed-off road in Washington state. The
Koenigsegg record was set without the benefit
of a long straightaway run.
Koenigsegg, in addition to launching the
CCXR, has since upped the ante in this continuing
race with the Koenigsegg Edition, costing
more than $2 million. It premiered at the
Geneva Auto Show earlier this year with a carbon-fiber
look and enhanced suspension tuning,
among other enhancements. LI
Exotic Cars at Caesars Palace,
Michael Nelson, General Sales Manager,
702.735.7700, 702.682.0027
28 AFFLUENT PAGE LUXURY INDEX MARCH/APRIL 2009