The idea of building one’s own supercar to compete with the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini, and McLaren would generally be considered ludicrous, what with the monumental strides these companies have made in automotive technology and performance over the past decades.

How could one man’s vision compete with such established sporting pedigree and record-setting engineering? From time to time, however, someone does indeed attempt such a feat and, on even rarer occasions, succeeds brilliantly.

Such is the case with Swedish supercar builder Koenigsegg.

Christian von Koenigsegg created a company in his own name in 1994; his aspiration was to build nothing short of the greatest supercar in history—or “megacar,” as the company calls it.

Over the next three years, with help from a small but highly skilled group, a prototype was constructed using a radical carbon fiber tub and a litany of automotive engineering firsts.

This car, named the Koenigsegg CC for Competition Coupé, was first public...