Koenigsegg is perhaps the most impressive car manufacturer in the world. Despite their low volume production numbers throughout the years they have managed to create true engineered marvels including Koenigsegg One:1 with it’s 1-to-1 power-to-weight ratio, Koenigsegg Regera with its single-speed transmission despite having combustion engine and Koenigsegg Gemera – a four seat hypercar that outputs 1700 horsepower and can achieve 400 km/h (249 mph).
Koenigsegg CC850 is the newest car that Koenigsegg have revealed and it’s another “first”. In this case it’s the first car in the world that has both manual and automatic gearbox.
Sounds crazy but I believe that’s something a lot of us petrolheads have imagined before – now that super and hyper cars have been only available with automatic transmissions for so long why not have both options at same time? – manual for immersive experience and automatic when you want to squeeze maximum performance or are feeling a bit lazy. Well, if there’s someone that’s crazy and genius enough to make something like that work it must be Christian von Koenigsegg.
Koenigsegg CC850
Koenigsegg CC850 is a homage to Koenigsegg’s first production car Koenigsegg CC8S which was produced from 2002 to 2003. Well Koenigsegg CC850 looks just like that – a modernized CC8S. The design between the two cars are very similar making you instinctively think that there’s some connection between the CC850 and first Koenigsegg models.
Koenigsegg CC850 will have 5.0-litre twin-turbo V8 that outputs 1,363 horsepower (CC8S has 4.6 L supercharged V8 that output 655 horsepower).
When you get inside Koenigsegg CC850 you see the gated shifter and if you don’t know any better you might think it’s just a 7-speed manual gearbox. Well the first six speeds are just that – manual. When you place it in 7th slot/gate you enter reverse however 8th slot/gate make it go in automatic mode. Very clever.
It doesn’t have flywheel It does have six clutches that handle gear selection and power transmission. The lack of flywheel also makes the engine a lot more responsive as expected. The clutch pedal direcrly operates hydraulic pressure of the six clutches. It feels exactly like a regular manual car – you can stall it or make a hard launch making tires spin.
LST gearbox has nine forward gear ratios. The ones you get in manual mode depends whether you are using “Track” or “Street” mode. In “Track” mode the first gear is long however following ones are shorter so you can maximize acceleration in track conditions. In “Street” mode the first gear is shorted however the rest of the gears are longer which allows you to get enjoyment from pulling gears for a bit longer.
This is a clever solution. You get to enjoy the best of manual gearbox without having to shift too often or lose too much time for that same reason. In automatic mode you get access to all 9 gears since the car on its own can shift so fast you don’t lose any notable time from switching gears.
Koenigsegg initially planned to build only 20 units of CC850’s but the demand has been so high they have decided to build 50.
More Koenigsegg CC850 Pictures
