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The Real Reason Aaron Paul's Car in Need for Speed Is Banned in the U.S.
By KYLE ENCINA
Aaron Paul got behind the wheel of some fast vehicles in "Need for Speed," but the one he raced to victory in the film’s culmination was the Koenigsegg Agera. One of the most expensive cars ever produced, the Agera, which meant literally “to act” in Swedish, produced a monstrous 910 horsepower and featured a new type of interior lighting system, called “Ghost Lights.”
Car enthusiasts could be forgiven if they thought the Agera’s speed was the reason it’s banned in the U.S.; however, the hypercar apparently lacked smart airbags required by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The safety organization is quite strict when it comes to cars that don't meet its safety standards, and the Agera was no exception.
Although only three Ageras were depicted in "Need for Speed," the movie utilized a lot more than that during its production. Not all of them were genuine Ageras built by Koenigsegg itself; instead, they were significantly cheaper replicas — more than 15 in total — that still had enough performance chops for the movie’s action sequences.
In 2015, a year after "Need for Speed" premiered, the Swedish hypercar maker broke the mold by making the Agera RS its first U.S. road safety compliant vehicle. Its manufacturer claims the RS utilizes similar technology to its rare One:1 supercar and has all of the functions of the R and S models, all while maintaining every necessary safety precaution to keep it on U.S. roads.