The new Koenigsegg Jesko may pump out an extraordinary 1578 hp, but according to the Swedish car manufacturer, power isn’t the most important aspect of its cars.

While speaking with Top Gear at the Geneva Motor Show, Christian von Koenigsegg said that chasing extraordinary horsepower figures has never been a priority for the brand. They simply want to build the most exciting cars possible.

“Is it important for us to have the most powerful car of all? No. I think it’s more important to have the most exciting car. Power is an easy number to get stuck to, but it was never our primary focus, it was a side effect,” von Koenigsegg said.

According to him, delivering a package which is exciting is the most important thing to achieve.

“It’s the overall experience – having control of an extreme machine that’s still enjoyable. You can’t be a passenger. You need to wring it by the neck. And have an aural experience,” von Koenigsegg added.

Of course, while horsepower figures aren’t everything, they are important if Koenigsegg wants to achieve its performance goals with the Jesko hypercar. That includes taking the car to a top speed of 300 mph (482 km/h).

Despite all the talk about power not being of utmost importance, Koenigsegg’s Agera RS is currently the world’s fastest production car with a verified 277 mph (445 km/h) top speed. To reach the 300 mph mark, the niche car manufacturer will build a special variant of the Jesko with smaller wings that will generate less drag – and downforce, but that’s not that much of a requirement in such a run.

Recent hypercar trends have seen car manufacturers adopting all-electric powertrains to extract the best possible performance. While these vehicles are promising acceleration figures to best what Koenigsegg can do, the company’s founder doesn’t seem particularly bothered, and instead acknowledged that the quality of hypercar start-ups has definitely improved in recent years.

Photo credits: Stefan Baldauf / Guido ten Brink for CarScoops