Best Sportscar 2006 - The Koenigsegg CCX !

No, we are not talking Ferrari, Porsche and Lamborghinis. The superlative sportscar to own is a Koenigsegg CCX. You may never heard this name before and I don't blame you. The inventor of this high-performance automobile is the Swedish fellow Christian von Koenigsegg which was born in 1973! He put this company together when he was only 22 years of age! Koenigsegg grew up with the dream of creating the perfect sportscar. After several years of planning he launched the Koenigsegg project in 1993. Designer David Craaford provided a design concept following Christian'’s guidelines. A tight-knit group was gathered and a prototype was assembled, the success of which enabled the foundation of the Koenigsegg Automotive Company. Koenigsegg receives major backing from Volvo, which kindly provided access to their wind tunnel as well as providing financial aid. Volvo's parent company, the Ford Motor Company, supplied the original Koenigsegg with a V8 engine ; however, Koenigsegg now comes with their own engines. On February 28th, 2005, at 12:08 hrs local time, in Nardo, Italy, the Koenigsegg CCR broke the record for the fastest production car in the world, having attained 388.87 km/h (242.91 mph), breaking the record previously held by the McLarenF1. The record was held until September 2005 when the long awaited Bugatti Veyron broke the record again at 407.5 km/h (253 mph). In May 2003, on the San Francisco to Miami Gumball 3000 Rally, the first Koenigsegg CCR in the United States received the biggest speeding ticket in the US ever; 242mph in a 75mph zone somewhere in west Texas. Two Koenigsegg car models appear in the XBox360 racing game "Project Gotham Racing 3" and also in "Need for Speed Carbon".
Since the first production car rolled off the assembly line in 1996, Koenigsegg has shipped ultrafast autos to the Middle East, Hong Kong, Eastern Europe, Russia, Britain, and Japan. Everywhere, it seems, except to the U.S., because Koenigsegg's cars have not met stringent U.S. safety and emissions standards. That's about to change. The new 2006 Koenigsegg CCX is an evolution of the previous record-breaking design, tweaked to meet U.S. standards. Not to worry, the car retains its speed rating, and it's the industry's only car with 806 horses under the hood. That's nearly twice the horses in Porsche's top-of-the-line 911 GT3, and more powerful than Mercendes-Benz' supercar offering, the SLR McLaren. The CCX carries a supercar price tag - $722,534, fully equipped and before taxes. The price even includes driving lessons from the world record-setting driver himself, Loris Bicocchi. Christian von Koenigsegg estimates his company will ship 20 to 25 cars the next 12 month alone, doubling the company's entire output over the last 10 years. That means even if he's wildly successful, the car is going to be scarce. This car is perfect for those who find that the Lamborghinis and Ferraris have become too common, too pedestrian! Check it out before you buy your next car!