I had the privilege of seeing & photographing a MY2014 Pagani Huayra, one of the first delivered to a client in the US, last night! We had dinner with the owner, a friend of mine from Colorado & Louisiana, who just took delivery of this 'French Blue' Pagani in Los Angeles on Monday (May 19th). He drove up from LA for a photo session at the Carmel Mission, where the car is scheduled to be on display later this summer for the Second Annual 'Carmel Mission Classic' on Wednesday, August 13th during the Historics!

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So last night we met for dinner at the home of the 'Carmel Mission Classic' organizer Frank DiPaola and his wife Yara. There we were met by two Pagani employees - Davide Testi (R&D/Test Driver) for Pagani Automobili SpA and James Hilton (Operations Manager) for Pagani Worldwide LLC. Davide flew in from San Cesario sul Panaro (near Modena)*, where Pagani automobile production is located, to personally supervise the deliveries of four cars this week in California - two in Los Angeles and two in San Francisco! James is affiliated with Pagani in the US, which interestingly enough invoices all Paganis worldwide. Pagani Automobili builds them...but Pagani Worldwide LLC sells them directly from the US to all world markets! According to my conversations with Davide, Pagani plans to build 110 of the gullwing models, 110 of the cabriolets (not yet in production) and about 15 to 25 'gt' competition models to be called the 'Nürburgring Edition'. Around 40 of the gullwings have been sold to US customers. Major other markets for the Huayra include China and the Middle East. Interestingly, sales in Europe are very low due to the economic downturn.

The cost of the Huayra coupe is around € 1,200,00 or US$1,600,00+! Horatio Pagani (an Argentinian by birth) has been a pioneer in the use of carbon fiber in his previous employment with Ferrari & Lamborghini. As an independent, he is now taking the carbon fiber concept even further in his own production of cars! The car' weight is around 1,350 kilos or just shy of 3000 pounds! The engine is made by AMG and to quote them: 'Mercedes-AMG has created a truly unique and lightweight engine, a twin turbo with 730 HP and 1000 Nm of torque'! The gearbox is a 'transverse sequential seven speed gearbox - AMT robotyzed system with driving programs'. Other 'strategic partners' of Pagani, besides Mercedes-AMG, include APP - Wheels, ASPA – CNC Precision Parts, BREMBO – Braking Systems, DANI GROUP – Interior Leather, MHG – Exhaust System & PIRELLI - Tires! Every screw on the car is titanium and has laser-inscribed the 'Pagani' name! The exhaust is entirely made of titanium, which accounts for the beautiful blue/purple hues you see in the photos after they heat up! For more information on the Pagani Huayra, see the links below:

Pagani Automobili | Huayra | Huayra

Notice of first US deliveries:
First Pagani Huayra Delivered to a Customer in the USA | Autofluence

Tomorrow, the owner drives the car back to LA and then it will be shipped to his home in Louisiana. But it will be back soon in the West, first in Colorado in July and then here in Carmel for the Historics! Hope you enjoy the photos...although the quality is not the best since I was using my iPhone's camera.

Saludos,
Eduardo
Carmel

PS Some of you might remember that I am part of a 'Guys Only Trip' that goes every two years to Europe and visit various European automobile factories and auto museums. In 2013, our group visited Pagani in San Cesario sul Panaro, just outside Modena. Paganis are truly a hand-build cars. The company employs less than 115 employees. Davide joined Pagani some years ago when there were only 14 employees...and he worked previously at Ferrari. He is a bit of a celebrity as a factory test driver. For the BBC's Top Gear, 'The Stig' posted the fasted lap ever of a production car in a Pagani Huayra at 1.13.8! Yet Davide Testi drove the same English circuit and bested The Stig's time by a considerable margin with the same Huayra during the Top Gear practices! Davide is an amazing driver!

Top Gear Track - BBC Top Gear - BBC Top Gear

In my photos, Davide is the one in the Pagani 'black' polo with tattoos in his arm (see last photo)! Davide is flying back to Italy tonight from San Francisco...he just came for the special deliveries in the West Coast!

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@z356 - Hi

Thanks for sharing your experience, information and images. Pagani U.S. looks promising.

About 15 to 25 'gt' competition models to be called the 'Nürburgring Edition'. We will have to wait long to see these, but certainly worth it.

PS:
Davide Testi mentions 110, but apparently according to this image are 100 Huayra. Maybe I'm missing something.


Thank you again.

 

You welcome Tango. Yes, I noticed that too. He mentioned 110 to me...but apparently the goal was 100. Maybe they got a few extra orders they couldn't afford to say 'no'. By the way, to get US DOT approval for sale of this model in the US, Pagani had to crash test 25 Huayras. I asked Davide several times to double check that number - 25 it was. All the testing was done in Spain at a facility approved by the US DOT/ National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The test site is located near Marbella in the Costa del Sol. I didn't know European manufacturers could do their required crash testing in Europe, so that is an interesting new morsel of information to me. As an aside, the cost of those 25 crashed automobiles are factored in the pricing of each of these vehicles now for sale. The Huayra was supposed to have cost less than one million euros originally. So that is part of the reason the price has risen so much since the car was announced a few years back.

Saludos,
Eduardo
Carmel

PS We met one last time today (see last photo) before my friend drives the Pagani back to Los Angeles early tomorrow morning! Today was mostly a photo shoot day at the Carmel Mission and at various locations along US1 on the road to Big Sur. Unfortunately, we are getting into our summer seasonal 'marine fog layer', so the sun was a no-show!

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incredible, thank you for sharing. great pictures

 

Awesome!

 

Great post!

 

I'll bet he did.

I hear this "had to crash 25 cars" thing all the time, and truthfully I doubt the accuracy of that. I know it was years ago, but Koenigsegg only had one crash test car for certification of the CCX. Could be things have changed since then, but I can't fathom what tests would require 25 chassis to be spent. Furthermore, the NHTSA allows "sled testing"; I don't know the particulars of this but my understanding is that mockups of the cockpit only can be used within certain test parameters.

For what it's worth, I've heard that delays on U.S. certification of the Huayra were actually caused from the emissions aspect.

This blue car sure is stunning.

 

This is amazing! Great post. And, congratulations to the owner!

 

I've heard that for the US crash testing they only used one single tub but obviously had to replace different body panels and such. Maybe thats what is being referred too.

My friend spotted one of the San Francisco Huayra's the other day. It was carbon with red stripping. I really hope to see one of the two that are up here.

Also, since when is the Huayra so heavy? 1700kg! I thought it was ~1400kg. Wonder if its because of how much the engine weighs...

 

Thank you for sharing this experience and for all the great pictures.