Vroom: Charlotte dealership selling $3M Swedish sports cars
Super-luxury automaker Koenigsegg picks Charlotte for 7th U.S. dealership; local demand for high-end cars revs up
If you’ve got $3M to burn on a super-luxury Swedish sports car, you’re in luck.
The Swedish carmaker Koenigsegg is opening a dealership at Metrolina Auto Group near Tyvola Road and I-77, a Metrolina spokeswoman confirmed to the Ledger. Metrolina — which already sells new McLarens and used Bentleys, Lamborghinis and Ferraris — just signed the paperwork in the last few weeks. The dealer doesn’t have any Koenigseggs on the lot, but “if you want to order something, we can definitely assist,” she said. She didn’t have further details.
There are just six other U.S. Koenigseggdealerships, in Miami, New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago and Beverly Hills. A Koenigsegg website registered by Metrolina Auto Group says “Charlotte coming soon.”
Don’t expect to start seeing them on I-485, though. Koenigseggs are known as “hypercars,” elite sports cars with limited production runs. The company says there are only 140 in the world and that “most of us have got a better chance of being struck by lightning … than you have of running into a Koenigsegg owner in your day-to-day life.”
Limited editions, high speeds: Even if you have millions in your car-shopping budget, there might not even be anything to order at the moment. One of the most recent models, the Koenigsegg Jesko, sold out of its 125 order slots earlier this year. The starting price was $2.8M. Another model, the Koenigsegg Agera RS, is one of the fastest cars in the world, with a top speed of 278 mph.
The addition of the Koenigsegg dealership comes as other luxury carmakers are opening locations in Charlotte. There’s a new Jaguar and Land Rover dealership under construction on Independence Boulevard. A Lamborghini dealership opened nearby last year.
As much wealth as there is in Charlotte, though, nobody here has a million-dollar sports car — at least not yet, according to state DMV data obtained by the Ledger under a public records request. The most expensive car in Mecklenburg County belongs to somebody who is turning heads at the country club with a 2018 Ford GT sports car, valued at $566,000.
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This article originally appeared in the Nov. 11, 2019, edition of the Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter focusing on local business news. Sign up for free here:
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In 2018, there were 936 vehicles valued at more than $100,000 in Mecklenburg County — a 25% increase over two years earlier.
Of the vehicles valued at more than $100,000:
- 120 were Porsches, mostly newer 911s
- 119 were Mercedes, mostly G-Class SUVs or S-Class Coupes
- 88 were Teslas, mostly model S’s and X’s
- 51 were Range Rovers
- There were also smaller numbers of Ferraris (47), Bentleys (43), Lamborghinis (17), Rolls-Royces (10), McLarens (seven) and Maseratis (six).
- Heavy-duty trucks probably appeal to a different crowd, but there were 113 Freightliner trucks valued at more than $100K.
The number of Teslas is also on the rise in Charlotte, though almost 90% of them are worth less than six figures.
Reflecting that growth, Charlotte’s second Tesla supercharger station opened this month by the EarthFare in Ballantyne. On Saturday afternoon, Ballantyne resident Mohan Kodihalli pulled into it. The bank worker said he intentionally allowed the charging level to fall to low levels so he could check out the new superchargers, which are much faster than charging at home.
He bought his Tesla seven months ago and finds it “very nice to drive — very silent, quick acceleration.” And he’s noticed more on Charlotte’s streets: “As I keep driving around, I see a lot more.”
Factoid: Overall, there were about 818,000 vehicles registered in Mecklenburg in 2018, or roughly one for every resident of driving age.
