Pagani Huayra Revealed
The long-awaited replacement for the Pagani Zonda is here. Can the Huayra recapture the magic?
For only the second time since 1999, Pagani has introduced a completely new road car. The Huayra replaces the Zonda, which is the car that took Pagani from small warehouse manufacturer to a true rival to the Italian supercar establishment. All this in less than a decade. So, it’s safe to say the Huayra has some large shoes to fill.
As with anything with the name Pagani attached to it, there’s an obsessive amount of attention paid to weight savings, and as you would expect, carbon fiber is everywhere. The Huayra’s chassis is an all-new monocoque constructed of carbon-titanium, which is a material that Pagani experimented with in later evolutions of the Zonda (and it's also in the running for coolest material ever). The payoff for all this is a weight of 2975 lb / 1350 kg.
Power comes courtesy of Mercedes Benz again ,this time in the form of a tweaked version of AMG’s six-liter biturbo V12. Power is pegged at 700 hp, but unlike V12s from its crosstown rivals it has a crushing amount of torque. Thanks to those twin-turbos, it produces 740 lb ft of the stuff. Other noteworthy engine features include a titanium exhaust and a dry sump lubrication system.
All this fury is put to the rear wheels via a seven-speed sequential gearbox with a dual disc clutch. Pagani considered the idea of using a dual clutch system but ultimately decided against it, since it would add 70 kg. The suspension was designed using lessons learned from the track-only Zonda R, and has adjustable Öhlins shocks at each corner.
Of course, the looks are a subjective thing, but initial impressions suggest the Huayra isn’t quite the looker the Zonda was. The front in particular has come in for criticism, with a gaping maw and unusual carbon grillwork. To be fair, Buick beige may not have been the best color to roll the car out in. Aside from that, the rest of the car looks pretty good, if not styled in the name of aerodynamics. Also, in a bit of a departure, the doors are gullwing items. The interior is typical over-the-top Pagani, featuring great swathes of leather and plenty of jewel-like switchgear.
On a side note, it’s likely that Pagani were forced to move the timetable for unveiling the Huayra forward by a few days after a few pictures leaked earlier this week. No doubt it's a frustrating situation for Pagani’s marketing department, since they didn’t even get to show the fifth and final video in their teaser campaign.
