For more than two decades, high-performance car fans have looked to Koenigsegg for proof that extreme engineering and bold ideas still have a place in the modern automotive world. The company has helped shape the hypercar as we know it today, with a focus on intricate craftsmanship, wild designs, and roaring V8 engines.

Read: Koenigsegg’s Latest Hypercar Is A Track Monster Designed To Obliterate Lap Records

And while the rest of the auto industry leans hard into electrification, Koenigsegg remains firmly attached to the combustion engine.

That doesn’t mean the competition is standing still. Other brands are taking their own creative routes, from Cosworth’s high-revving V12s and V16s in the Gordon Murray T.50 to the hybridized muscle of the Bugatti Tourbillon. But Koenigsegg isn’t backing down. Its twin-turbocharged V8 continues to evolve, now tuned to produce 1,603 horsepower for the Jesko-based Sadair’s Spear.

No Plans for EVs Anytime Soon

During a recent interview with Top Gear, Christian von Koenigsegg made it clear that the company has no plans to release an electric vehicle. Thanks to EU regulations that allow small manufacturers to sidestep the upcoming 2035 ban on new internal combustion cars, it doesn’t need to pivot toward EVs just to stay in the game.

“The appetite in the market for this level of car, fully electric, is extremely low,” von Koenigsegg said. “So that’s one aspect. But also, [I’ve] kind of experienced electric cars myself for many years, and loving the responsiveness, the smoothness, how easy it is to live with it and all of this. But, after a while, if you’re a car enthusiast, you want to talk to the beast, right? You want to have a dialogue. It’s an argumentation. You want to hear how it’s feeling and in what mood it is.”

He described the emotional side of driving a combustion-powered car, adding, “You want the throbbing, the pumping, the heat, the sounds, the shifts, all of these aspects that just make it come alive. I would say an electric car is a bit more of a robot. This is a bit more of an animal.”

Koenigseggs Are Like Mechanical Watches

He then went on to compare what’s currently happening in the automotive industry to what happened in the watch industry. When digital watches became commonplace, some thought they would spell the end for mechanical watches. However, people still want and appreciate a hand-built mechanical watch, hence why they’re still so popular.

Koenigsegg’s cars are like mechanical watches. It doesn’t rely on robots to build them, and they are made up of thousands of precise mechanical parts that give each car a unique character, something that an EV cannot replicate. Long may this continue.