You’re looking at something unreal. We mean that in the literal sense—these are renders created by student designer Esa Mustonen for the RAW Design House, a design consultancy that’s part of Koenigsegg. But it’s also unreal in the figurative sense. It is phenomenal, a truly interesting interpretation of some major Koenigsegg design cues, but remixed and reimagined into something unique.
Mustonen, a student at Lahti University of Applied Sciences in Finland who has previously held internships at Renault and Genesis, worked with both Koenigsegg honcho Christian von Koenigsegg as well as RAW manager (and Koenigsegg head designer) Sasha Selipanov, who was responsible for the design of the Chiron while at Bugatti. And while RAW is a design group, there’s some musing (based on the official input of two principals at Koenigsegg, and the nature of the project) that it could be a feeler for a new entry-level Koenigsegg sub-brand—RAW by Koenigsegg.
After all, Mustonen reveals that the three-seat concept, which is as of yet unnamed, would have the company’s groundbreaking three-cylinder Freevalve engine behind the passenger compartment. Aiming for a 700 kg target weight (a featherweight 1,543 pounds) and 700 horsepower, the RAW vehicle would have outrageous numbers.
But it’s the styling that really amazes. After all, everything Koenigsegg touches has outrageous performance and mind-bending engineering. What sets the RAW concept apart is the look and attitude, which Mustonen tells us is is inspired partially by the wedge-shaped, angular concept cars of the 1970s in general, and the famous Giugiaro-penned Lotus Esprit in particular. Modern product and industrial design also inspired him, as did the typical aeronautical influences that inspire all Koenigseggs—jet afterburners are echoed in the rear diffuser, for example.
You won’t be surprised to see, then, that Mustonen’s most striking creations have sharp, striking edges and precarious overhangs. This is emphasized to an extreme in the RAW project, which is so aggressively cropped at the rear that the rear wheels extend beyond the headlamps. While the RAW concept isn’t large nor tall, the extremely abbreviated rear gives some visual height to the slab flanks and the rectilinear shapes ahead of the front wheels. The angularity of the car below its belt line accent set off the traditional double-bubble Koenigsegg roof and the wraparound windshield, although the slitlike greenhouse is much more aggressive than any production Koenigsegg.
We think that whatever happens with this concept—whether it inspires a future RAW “entry-level” hypercar (which is an oxymoron if we’ve ever heard one) or just launches Mustonen’s promising career, we’re just happy it exists in digital form.
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