Score one for internal combustion engines.

The folks at Koenigsegg have reclaimed the 0-400-0 km/h world record, after letting it live with an electric hypercar maker for only about a month.

Factory test driver Markus Lundh drove the V8-powered Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut from zero to 400 km/h and back down to zero in a record time of 25.21 seconds, shaving more than two seconds from the Jesko Absolut’s previous best run, which had been set in June of 2024.

Koenigsegg’s latest record run happened on Aug. 7 at Örebro airfield in Sweden, but the automaker announced the achievement on Aug. 12.

The new record is about a half-second quicker than the previous record holder, which had been held by the all-electric Rimac Nevera R. Back on July 9, Rimac announced it had reclaimed the 0-400-0 km/h record with a time of 25.79 seconds.

While Koenigsegg didn’t specifically mention Rimac in announcing its latest achievement, there was a bit of a dig against its rival.

“That we achieve this level of performance with a production car utilizing a combustion engine with rear-wheel drive only – beating all four-wheel drive electric cars in a straight line is almost magical and show that ‘truths’ can be re-written,” company founder Christian von Koenigsegg said in a news release.

The Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut is powered by a twin-turbo 5-litre V8 engine with 1,578 hp when running on E85 biofuel, or 1,262 on gasoline.

The car utilizes a low drag coefficient and sophisticated traction control strategies to help it achieve its records.

How did Koenigsegg improve its time?

The automaker said driver Lundh had some challenges to contend with on Aug. 7 as the tarmac was still drying from rain earlier that day.

Despite this, he managed an even quicker time than he had achieved a year earlier in the same car.

The automaker said the car received new and improved software strategies to make it quicker.

“Our software engineers have been tweaking and adjusting the light speed transmission and engine management system and have introduced a new torque control system which manages the grip of the Absolut like never before,” Christian von Koenigsegg said.

These software refinements, called “Absolut Overdrive,” will be rolled out to customer cars, so that every Jesko Absolut will benefit from these updates.

“This run demonstrated the power of cross functional teamwork and exceptional communication between our in-house developed drivetrain systems. It’s a testament to the synergies between our engineering and development teams, our cutting-edge software architecture, and avant garde class leading mechanical solutions,” Christian von Koenigsegg said.

Previous 0-400-0 km/h records

Koenigsegg and Rimac have been exchanging the 0-400-0 km/h record for years now.

Check out the record runs form recent years:

• Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut – 25.21 seconds (2025)
• Rimac Nevera R – 25.79 seconds (2025)
• Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut – 27.83 seconds (2024)
• Koenigsegg Regera – 28.81 seconds (2023)
• Rimac Nevera – 29.93 seconds (2023)
• Koenigsegg Regera – 31.49 seconds (2019)
• Koenigsegg Agera RS – 33.49 seconds (2017)
• Bugatti Chiron – 41.96 seconds (2017)

It will be fun to see how Rimac responds.

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