All new Pagani Huayra revealed ...

More that a decade after unveiling the Zonda, Pagani have finally taken the wraps off its successor. Dubbed the Huayra, it is named after a the legendary god of the wind 'Aymara Huayra Tata' in a legend passed on by the indigenous people of the Andes region of South America. While developing the new car, Pagani also built a new factory to allow for an increase in production.

For the design of the Zonda, Horacio Pagani was very much inspired by the shape of a woman's body, resulting in voluptuous, yet elegant lines. Inspiration for the Huayra was drawn from modern fighter jets. Accordingly the new Pagani has much sharper lines than the Zonda. Due to extensive use of underbody aerodynamics, there is no need for a permanent rear wing. Small winglets do rise from the rear deck at speed. Access to the lovely cockpit is through two large 'gullwing' doors.



During the 1980s, Horacio Pagani was one of the first men in Italy to apply carbon-fibre on production cars and he has ever since continued to perfect the application of the material. For the Huayra, a special titanium laced carbon-fibre was created, which was already used for the final Zondas. The advantage is that it adds additional strength to the carbon-fibre without a weight penalty. This 'carbo-titanium' is used for the all new Huayra monocoque.

Mounted amidships is a bespoke V12 engine developed by Mercedes-Benz' subsidiary AMG. Displacing just under six litres, it is fitted with two turbochargers, which boost the power to over 700 bhp. The torque generated is an even more impressive; in excess of 1000 Nm. This power is transferred to the rear wheels through a transversely mounted dual-clutch, sequential gearbox with seven forward ratios. Developed together with XTrac, the complete gearbox weighs just 96 kg.

Due to the extensive use of exotic materials, the complete Huayra weighs in at just 1350 kg, split 44:56 between the front and rear axles. No official figures have been released yet, but the new Pagani is set to accelerate from 0-60 mph (96 km/h) in just over 3 seconds and then onto a top speed of 230 mph (370 km/h). The Huayra achieves all this while complying with the latest emission and safety standards.

The Pagani Huayra will be unveiled to the public at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show. Production should commence soon after. Even though Pagani aims at building a larger number of cars per year, the Huayra nevertheless has a reputed price-tag of 1 million euro.