Production of the Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut is now underway, so the company is shifting focus to a speed-record attempt.
The automaker showed the first customer Jesko Absolut in an Instagram post a few days ago. Around the same time, founder Christian von Koenigsegg said in an interview with Swedish publication Carup that the company would try to set a new speed record for production cars later this year.
Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut pre-production model
First shown in 2019, the Jesko is offered in Absolut and Attack configurations. The Jesko Attack is a high-downforce version, while the Absolut is a low-drag version designed for top speed. Just 125 cars will be made in total, with the split between Absolut and Attack models determined by customer demand. The entire production run sold out in 2022 despite a $3 million price tag for each car.
In 2020, von Koenigsegg said the Jesko Absolut would be the fastest car Koenigsegg will ever make—but exactly how fast remains to be seen.
Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut pre-production model
In the interview with Carup, von Koenigsegg said theoretical models based on gearing and power curve have indicated a top speed above 310 mph. That would beat the Bugatti Chiron, which won the race to 300 mph in 2019 with a 304.7-mph top speed.
The Bugatti record is contested, however, because the automaker only ran the car in one direction, rather than recording a two-way average, as is standard procedure for speed records. The fastest two-way average speed on record is 282.9 mph, set by the SSC Tuatara in 2021, beating the previous record of 277.9 mph set by the Koenigsegg Agera RS in 2017.