The Koenigsegg Koenigsei’s design and name have a rather unlikely source of inspiration… the egg. Koenigs-ei roughly translates to King’s Egg in German, and the car, designed by Max Schneider, embodies a sort of egg-shaped design, with golden details on the rear to make it look like the egg is wearing a crown… forming what I’d say is perhaps too literal an interpretation of the King’s Egg. Schneider’s concept car takes that bit of tongue-in-cheek humor to even more interesting levels by proposing the passenger compartment of the car be made out of a recycled egg-shell composite material. Its light-hearted approach aside, the Koenigsei is an absolute head-turner of an automobile.
Schneider’s conceptual Koenigsei vehicle is smooth from start to finish, just like an egg-shell. There’s rarely a single break in surface or even a hint of a parting line anywhere in the car. Every element seems organic and continuous, giving the car its aggressive aerodynamism. The car’s front features headlights that are flush against the surface, and a windshield that embraces the car’s organic features. I’d venture a guess that a crack in that shield would incur massive expenditures. Move along to the side and the car’s doors sit perfectly flush against the surfaces too, with not even a handle disrupting its continuity. Air intakes assume presence in the form of a porous grille pattern along the side as well as on the front, right underneath the headlights. Within the hood of this concept car lies Schneider’s dream setup – a hydrogen-powered V8 Twin-Turbo engine that creates 1640 horsepower and takes the car from 0-100 in just 2.8 seconds, and to 200km/h in another 3.5 more seconds – that amount of shift in inertia should be enough to scramble an egg right inside its shell.
The back of the car is perhaps my favorite, possibly because that’s where the egg ends and the crown begins. The Koenigsei’s crown features a pair of flying buttresses that emerge from the double-bubble roof and travel all the way back to the car’s spoiler. Air outlets at the rear sit below both edge-lit taillights, and offer a glimpse of the car’s tire treads (a detail that should look exceptionally cool while filming a burnout), and between them sit the conceptual Koenigsegg’s easter egg, if you will, a custom license plate with Max Schneider’s name on it!
Designer: Maximilian Schneider
