It's doubtful you can pronounce Koenigsegg Regera, and even less likely you can afford one. Priced at $1.89 million, the 1500 horsepower hybrid tops out at 250 mph. LA to Vegas in an hour.
The Regera is just one of many insanemobiles on display this week at the Geneva International Motor Show. It's fitting that a city known for bankers and break-the-bank watches would sponsor an auto show featuring vehicles that require a Swiss bank account - and that's just for the down payment.
If you're one who can't imagine spending less than $2 million on a car, you might want to look at the Ferrari Sergio, created to honor the Italian designer Sergio Pininfarina. Oops! Too late, only six are scheduled to be hand-built and they've all been spoken for. But you can ogle one on the showroom floor in Geneva.
Aston Martin brought an all-electric concept car to Switzerland. The DBX is either the sportiest SUV ever, or a sports car with the seats jacked up. Bringing new meaning to the term "all-wheel drive," the DBX is powered by electric motors that are mounted in all four wheels. It's the future, baby.
Bored with Geneva?
Hop in your G5 and cruise west, toward Bob Hope Airport, in beautiful Burbank, California. There you'll find the latest shrine to man's undying need to do weird stuff to automobiles.
West Coast Customs gained fame as the guys who did the pimping on MTV's Pimp My Ride. They went on to build a big business tricking out cars for celebs and making TV shows. This week, they're opening a new headquarters, moving north from Orange County to LA's San Fernando Valley.
The new shop is more like an amusement park for motorheads. Its 60,000 square feet include a showroom, garage/workspaces, a full-on TV studio, coffee bar, and clothing shop. The public is invited to witness all the grinding and banging and polishing that goes on, and can even wander along a catwalk that runs above the workspaces.
Susan Carpenter, auto and motorcycle critic for the OC Register, joins us each week on Thursday for The Wheel Thing.