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Swedish high-performance car manufacturer Koenigsegg has broken the top speed record for a production vehicle. On Saturday, factory driver Niklas Lilja reached 277.9 mph (447.1km/h) in one of the company's Agera RS hypercars.

The two runs took place on Nevada’s Route 160 between Las Vegas and Pahrump. An 11-mile straight section of the highway was closed for the drives, which beat rival car-maker Bugatti’s previous record of 268 mph. Earlier in October, Koenigsegg took another record from Bugatti, smashing the 0-400-0 km/h record. It managed the feat in 37.28 seconds, 26.88 seconds of which were used to reach the top speed of 400 km/h (249 mph).

You can watch both high-speed runs in the video above, which was posted on YouTube by Julian Thomas. While one sees the driver hit 438 kmh/h, he reaches 457 km/h during another attempt. The official time is taken from an average of the two speeds. The uphill gradient and strong headwinds Lilja faced makes the runs all the more impressive. To hit these incredible speeds, the Agera RS is built using a lightweight carbon fiber body and an aluminum honeycomb monocoque structure. Its 5-liter twin-turbo V8 provides it with 1,160 horsepower. Not surprisingly, the car doesn't come cheap; expect to pay around $2.1 million for the privilege of owning one.

While Bugatti will be itching to get its record back, both companies will likely face another rival looking to take the crown: Hennessey. It recently announced that the successor to the Venom GT, the 1600-bhp Venom F5, could break the 300-mph limit.

Away from street-legal cars, the first public tests of the Bloodhound, a vehicle designed to go over 1000 mph, took place in the UK last month.


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