It only had three cylinders and rich people want V8s

When the Koenigsegg Gemera It began to be produced last year and added the V8 version, but at its presentation it only had a single-cylinder engine. three cylinder engineIn theory, both options were going to be sold. This was not the case.

It wasn’t because the lucky ones who can afford this $2.0 million hybrid hypercar They preferred the V8. A shame, because it is possibly one of the most fascinating engines of the century.

A 600 HP three-cylinder engine thanks to the magic of its interior

The decision to “kill” the three-cylinder Gemera was Koenigsegg’s, although out of necessity: Few customers had reserved the one equipped with the so-called Tiny Friendly Giant (‘Gentle Little Giant’), so the firm pushed them to opt for the V8. It was a question of numbers.

It is told by Christian von Koenigsegg himself on the Top Gear podcast: “There were so few people asking for the three-cylinder engine that we managed to convince them”The fact is that this advanced three-cylinder engine, a crazy piece of engineering, was never produced.

El Tiny Friendly Giant era un 2.0 liter three-cylinder block and powered by two turbos which yielded nothing less than 600 CV. An astonishing figure for an engine with only three cylinders, and one that is due to its avant-garde architecture, a masterpiece of engineering.

This ‘gentle giant’ did not have the classic camshaft: it had a Freevalve distribution system based on electrohydraulic lifts controlled by the management electronics themselves. This allows infinitely variable timing of the intake valves to take their performance to the extreme. It also controls the exhaust valve, improving the response of the turbos.

If we also add the 800 hp electric motor, which was reduced to one in the final version of the Gemera compared to the three that the prototype had, this new Koenigsegg Gemera signed the 1,400 hp and 1,850 NmIt was also a lighter block, so we are talking about a Gemera with fewer kilos.

In this video, Engineering Explained explains how it works and gives some performance figures estimated by Koenigsegg for the three-cylinder Gemera: it does 0-100 in 1.9 seconds or who signs the 400 km/h.

Koenigsegg does not explain why most customers opted for the Gemera V8. Perhaps it was simply a question of window dressing: an eight-cylinder V-engine is much more attractive than a three-cylinder.

When we posted the video of this Tiny Friendly Giant roaring at idle, some commented that it looked like “a lawnmower with the muffler off” or that it sounded like a “tractor pulling”. It is true that the V8 sounds much betterbut it is a pity that this propellant died before being born.

Although there is hope, Koenigsegg has been asked if this engine could ever see the light of day and has left the door open: “It’s still interesting, we’re still working on it. Maybe one day we’ll do it in the Gemera too, maybe in some version.” But of course, it will have to have suitors or the same thing will happen again.