Car of the Week: This 1,018 HP Koenigsegg Prototype Could Fetch $2.3 Million at Auction

Koenigsegg called it the “Flower Power” car. Back in 2006, when most supercar builders were focused on ever-increasing muscle, the Swedish automaker decided to combine output with sustainability via its biofuel-powered CCXR. It was dubbed the world’s first green supercar. Here was a speed machine that could run on corn-derived E85 ethanol, yet still crank out over 1,000 hp and hit a top speed of over 250 mph. Between 2006 and 2010, Koenigsegg built 19 examples of the CCXR.

One of these was a stealthy, satin-black prototype used to help fine-tune the biofuel technology. Now, after years of being tucked away in storage in Norway, chassis No. 7031 is heading to auction at the Bond Street Sale from Bonhams, which takes place in London on December 12.

The car is owned by Norwegian industrial designer and innovator Bård Eker. A close friend of the marque’s founder, Christian von Koenigsegg, Eker was a designer and major shareholder at Koenigsegg during the mid-2000s. In 2009, the duo tried, unsuccessfully, to buy Saab from General Motors. In a video interview provided to Robb Report, Eker explains that the car was allocated to him by Christian von Koenigsegg so as to accumulate road mileage for real-world testing.

“A couple of weeks after I took delivery, we heard from the European testing institute in Barcelona that a test slot had opened up. The problem was the test facility wouldn’t test without a certain mileage on the car, which we had to add,” states Eker in the video.

Koenigsegg’s solution? To take a power drill to the odometer cable and add miles. Eker reckons that probably only a third of his car’s current reading of 18,643 kilometers (11,586 miles) are actual road miles. Eker went on to assemble a world-class collection of Koenigsegg models (he’s believed to have had as many as nine) which were stored away in nondescript buildings at the Rudskogen race circuit in Norway, south of Oslo.

This was the case with the CCXR being presented by Bonhams, which, after Koenigsegg’s testing work was completed, didn’t resurface until 2012. The car currently wears its head-turning “Streetfighter 7031” graphics, Rudskogen circuit decals, and “Koenigsegg Official Test Car” stickers. The “Hydrolift Fly Without Wings” logos reference Eker’s Hydrolift boat-building company.

Adding to the uniqueness of the car is its subtle prototype design features, such as the modified air vents behind the front wheels incorporated for aero testing. There’s also the so-called Top Gear rear wing, added following a 2006 track test by the British TV show, which discovered high-speed instability in an early car. Slide in beneath those signature, forward-flipping dihedral doors and, inside, the cabin features dark gray leather with diamond-quilted Alcantara accents. There’s also a full carbon-fiber dashboard and a towering shift lever for the six-speed manual gearbox.

Yet the highlight of the car is without doubt the Koenigsegg-built 4.8-liter twin-supercharged V-8, which is mid-mounted behind the cockpit. Modified to run on both E85 and E100 ethanol fuel, the V-8 was fitted with unique fuel injectors as well as upgraded fuel lines and piston rings, and given higher boost settings for the twin blowers. The result saw an increase from the previous CCX’s 806 hp to 1,018 hp and 782 ft lbs of torque. As for performance, it delivers a zero-to-62 mph time of 2.9 seconds. According to Eker, it’s the last Koenigsegg in his collection, after he sold his prized 2007 CCGT GT1 Competition Coupe race car for around $4.12 million at Bonhams’ 2023 Goodwood auction.

Highlighting this CCXR’s collectability, Tim Schofield, senior specialist at Bonhams, tells Robb Report: “This is a fantastic opportunity to join the legendary Koenigsegg ‘Ghost Squadron’ with this spectacular factory prototype. It’s a car that’s never been registered for the road, and has resided with its only owner from new.” Bonhams gives the auction car a price estimate of between $1.8 million and $2.3 million.

Click here for more photos of this 2006 Koenigsegg CCXR Prototype.