And just like that, the dream is over. Or at least deferred.
NHTSA has rejected the Italian carmaker's hardship exemption request that would have allowed the Pagani Huayra to go on sale in the United States without advanced airbags. Pagani was looking for an exemption from Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208 which deals with occupant crash protection and has required airbags since 9-1-2000.
Earlier in the year, NHTSA decided to get all serious about this and stop issuing hardship exemptions claiming that the price of airbags is sufficiently low for any reasonable carmaker to implement. Pagani, however, said that the move would cost them $4.5 million in lost income (plus another $5.5 mil for the advanced airbag program) as they couldn't sell the car until 2015 in the states.
Pagani did not respond to a e-mail from Inside Line for an official comment on the situation.
According to NHTSA, airbags increase your chance of living by 12% and this begs the question: With limited-volume, specialty vehicles, shouldn't a waiver of liability be enough? If I want to risk life and limb in a Huayra or an Ariel Atom, shouldn't I be able to?
Pagani's second supercar touched down in Pasadena, California last night, making its North American debut. Unlike the company's previous model, the Zonda, the Huayra will be sold stateside. Rex Tokeshi-Torres and I attended the event at the Art Center College of Design, and we basically kept our fingers down on our camera buttons the whole time. There are plenty of photos after the jump, along with some of my own observations.
Even as new supercars go, the introduction of the Pagani Huayra is particularly exciting. Remember, the Zonda was Pagani's FIRST CAR. Unlike most small volume manufacturers, though, Pagani managed to be more than a pile of big numbers in a crazy shell, the thing was fast, high quality and Pagani had the ability to actually profit from them.
Now, Pagani is less of a question mark and the new car actually has some standards to live up to. The pile of numbers and features looks right-- twin-turbo 6.0-liter making 720 horsepower, 235 mph top speed, lots of carbon fiber, active aerodynamics -- but does this one work like the Zonda did?
I'm torn between which is cooler here: Watching the active flaps on the Pagani Huayra go up and down as the car requires, or listening to the AMG-sourced 700 horsepower, 6.0-lilter twin-turbo V12.
Going to have to go with aero here as compared to the Zonda, this thing just sounds like a vacuum. A $1.4 million stonking fast vacuum. Looking forward to seeing those front flaps in action next time.
One of the most anticipated things about the new Pagani was that it would be, officially, sold in the United States. Sure, there are a couple of Zondas around (at least one in So Cal and one in New England -- probably more, help me out here), but they're not officially intended for our market.
That all changes with the Huayra and now we know where you'll place your US orders should you be in the market for a million-dollar catfish: California and California. Specifically, the Auto Gallery of Beverly Hills and British Motor Cars in San Francisco. The Auto Gallery already runs Lamborghini, Ferrari, Porsche and McLaren so they're no stranger to high-end customers. British Motor Cars handles Lambo, Lotus, Jag, Bentley and Land Rover. Unfortunately, neither location will have a display car we can stare at through the front window. (Unlike, say, the O'gara Coach Company who always have a Veyron or two on display.)
We get that this is a new venture for them and that LA and San Francisco / Palo Alto will be huge markets for this car, but leaving out the east coast (NY / Miami ) and putting two within a few hundred miles is unfortunate. Oh well, most potential owners will do it all virtually and then have the car shipped anyways.
"Ancient legends of the Aymara tell us of Huayra Tata, god of wind, who commands the breezes, winds, and blizzards that invade the mountains, cliffs and hills of the Andean highlands.
When Huayra Tata sleeps, the waters and rivers lay quiet.
But the calm before the storm is about to be interrupted..."
Art school kids are as annoying as ancient history kids and when they pair up to make a car promotion, it apparently goes fantastically. Especially when the subject is the 2012 Pagani Huayra. Ignore the frippery and just enjoy this video which is as well done as the Huayra itself.
Someone finish that title for me...I'm trying to be nice today.
In our first look, we said of the Huayra "The turbo V12 produces a very different engine note from the naturally aspirated wail of the Zonda's V12. At idle, the engine is relatively discreet, with a heavy bass note from the exhaust. But once the engine is on boost, the Huayra makes its presence abundantly clear, emitting a jetlike roar that's audible clear across the valley of this little island. It's less thrilling than the flamboyant V12, but more obviously forceful. "
Unfortunately, Youtube is the closest most of us will get to hearing a Huayra and even in this sealed room it sounds....
After weeks of leaks and art house movies and months before that of spy shots and rumors, the 2012 Pagani Huayra is here.
And here it is in all of its $1,400,000 glory....Better than the blurry leaks, but still, not sure what's with the sagging, gaping, gap-toothed grille. (Note the forward flaps....that's cool.)
After months of hiding and prepping crazy videos, the new Pagani Huayra, the Zonda replacement, is leaking all over the internets. (This kind of thing happens when some outlets can't publish on ten seconds warning.) Last week we had a leaked front view of the new Pagani Huayra and now we've got the back.
I don't think 690-horsepower from an AMG V12 and 250 mph are enough to ignore the ugly here. (Though the dual active flaps are kind of awesome.)
Hot on the heels of the leaked images of what might be the most disastrously ugly supercars ever, here's the fourth installment of Pagani's Huayra teaer series.
Is this the Pagani Huayara? Atoblog.nl is running some blurrily scanned photos of a Zonda-lighted, gullwinged something-or-other with a Huayra plaque.
Uhhhhh. Hmmm. Errrrr......
Pardon me while I go look at that awesome hatchback Ferrari some more.... We'll know for certain soon enough as we still have three more teaser videos and then the official unveil at Geneva.
I had originally started this blog with something to the tune of, "Seriously, enough with the teasers. We're over it." But then I watched the video a couple of times and started writing a blog about this, the third installment of the Pagani C9 or Pagani Huayra or whatever inscrutable thing they're going to call the replacement for the Zonda (we think they've got a thing for wind) and realized that I'm not over it and am totally buying into this teaser trailer nonsense. I was excited when it came online.
There's not a lot to go on -- again -- just some pretty slick details and some artsy camera work.
There are two more left. I'm waiting for them. Sorry.....
Another fuzzy, grainy teaser video of the new Pagani C9 (rumored name: Huayra which means "wind" in ancient Quechuaian) has hit the intertubes and this time, no espresso. There is, however, leather and springs and stitching and lots and lots of metal interior bits.
Rumors out of the old country suggest that we should see full shots of this windy beast come January (which is this month now that someone mentioned it). Until then, this is what we've got.
There's not much to see in this Official Teaser for the Pagani C9 until about the 0:26 mark. It's at this point, fresh off a drag of espresso, our hero, Horacio Pagani, sets down his cup and picks up a model of what we'll assume is the new Pagani C9. The C9 you'll remember, is running a 6.0-liter V12 developed by AMG.
We would've preferred a teaser of that instead of the espresso machine.
From the maybe-650-hp-was-enough-after-all department comes this shameful display.
That mass of carbon fiber strewn across the B14 Autobahn near Stuttgart, Germany is none other than a prototype for the Pagani C9, the replacement for the Zonda. Why Stuttgart, you ask? Well, like the Zonda, the C9 uses a Mercedes-Benz motor. Instead of the 7.3-liter AMG V12 that amply powered the Zonda, the C9 apparently uses a twin-turbo version of Mercedes' 6.0-liter V12, making somewhere in the neighborhood of 700 hp.
Of course, in the SAE horsepower standard that we use in the United States, that 700 hp converts to "too much."
You may have seen some of these before. Rich guys like to show off you know. Regardless, these ultimate garages still stir the soul in a way only serious car enthusiasts can truly appreciate. There's a 25 page string on Luxury4play.com if you want to see more.
After about five minutes of walking around a European auto show, you've come across half a dozen strikingly beautiful cars that have little to no hope of ever coming to the U.S. So all you can do is get in some intense ogling and move along. Pagani's Zonda Roadster F has gotten a large share of the voyeurs at Geneva's Palexpo.
All Zondas have a carbon-fiber chassis and bodywork, but on this car the exterior panels are unpainted, setting up a dramatic contrast with the yellow cockpit.
