Search "Koenigsegg" here: https://www.federalregister.gov/ As of now, the request for the airbag exemption extension is still pending.

This particular car was first photographed by Jon Olsson way back in September when he visited the Koenigsegg factory: Koenigsegg – Jon Olsson - Official homepage and blog The photos with the grey car seen here were taken at the Koenigsegg airfield. Seeing that Koenigsegg was playing by the U.S. airbag rules with the CCX series, I can't see them trying to dance around them with the Agera. Which gives me doubts as to whether this is actually a U.S.-spec car.

That doesn't necessarily mean that it's not headed here anyway. I saw that "other" thread but I'll believe it when I see photos on U.S. soil.

 

 

 

 

Well I stumbled on this
Koenigsegg Agera to Hit US Streets, Working on Camless Engine
It says that kzegg has applied for a smart air bag exemption which we knew already. Seeing as pagani and lotus both had their airbag exemptions denied I can't see how they would approve the agera.

 

Yeah I saw that too, shortly after I made that post.

What I forgot to take into consideration is that by rule, the existing exemption gets extended during the time that extension request is being considered. So the simple act of requesting an exemption extension acts as an exemption extension (confused yet?). It's a nice little loophole that would allow a few cars through. Tesla used this rule to squeak out one last batch of Roadsters.

I still don't think the car pictured is the U.S.-bound one though.

 

They had a exemption for the ccx not the agera so I'm not sure it would apply to it. Know what I mean, does the exemption cover all models a mfg makes or just the specific model?

 

Good point; I don't think it would apply to the Agera series. Even though the Agera and CCX are very similar structurally, the car carries a different model name and in the eyes of the NHTSA that makes it a whole new example. Plus Koenigsegg will have to certify the new engine also.

Of course, Koenigsegg could get around it by calling it a "CCX Agera" and then eventually drop the CCX part. That's what the Japanese do -- See: Celica Supra, Camry Solara, Pathfinder Armada, Accord Crosstour.

 

I'm still not sure how they got the ccx the exemption and pagani got denied for the zonda and the new car.

 

Their attitude towards exemptions has changed a lot in the last year or so. The advanced airbag regulations have been around for long enough that they feel the technology should be readily available and cheap enough for even small manufacturers by now. They're getting tired of handing out exemptions for a rule they believe in.

As far as the CCX vs. the Zonda, I'm not sure Pagani even applied for the Zonda? Also, if I'm not mistaken the Zonda has no airbags at all, whereas the CCX at least had two non-advanced airbags already. That helped the CCX's case a lot. Pagani didn't get the exemption for the Huayra simply because Pagani didn't pursue it for so long; the Huayra wasn't ready anyway. Also they made too much profit to prove economic hardship.