People
Horacio Pagani is born in Casilda, Argentina
The son of a baker and an artist grows up in a small farm town in Santa Fe province. As a boy he carves model cars from balsa and tells his mother he will one day go to Modena to build them.
San Cesario Edition · Origins
The Pagani story, from the first sketch to today.
Every model, the versions that mattered, the races that made the name and the people behind them. Scroll through the years, filter what you care about and open any moment for the details and sources.
56 moments · 8 model generations · 71 years
A workshop in the pampas
A baker’s son in an Argentine farm town carves balsa cars, builds a buggy and a racing car, and sets his sights on Modena.
1955
1971
PeopleTwo teenagers build a pair of minibikes
Given a dead Sachs engine, Pagani and his friend Gustavo Marani plan a go-kart, then realise one kart will not let them ride together. They build two minibikes by hand instead, down to the tanks and forks.
1972
PeopleA scrapyard Renault becomes his first car
Before leaving school he buys a fibreglass buggy body kit and finds a wrecked Renault Dauphine to fit it to. Five months later the buggy is registered and on the streets of Casilda.
1974
PeopleUniversity, and a decision to walk away
At 18 he enrols in industrial design at La Plata, 450 km from home. Political unrest keeps suspending classes, so he tries mechanical engineering at Rosario, then decides his future lies in making things rather than in lectures.
1977
CompanyThe one-man “factory” opens in Casilda
Pagani puts up an 80-square-metre workshop of hollow bricks and corrugated iron, and proudly calls it his factory. He is its only worker. The first paying job is a set of high stools for a new bar in town.
1978
CompanyHoracio Pagani Design shows a caravan
The first vehicle from his one-man business is a caravan prototype called the Alpine, shown at a local trade fair. Orders follow for camper vans and pickup conversions.
1979
RacingThe first real Pagani is a Formula 2 racer
About 5,000 hours of work produce a single-seater for the Argentine championship, built by Pagani in every part except its Renault engine. It is unveiled at a dinner for over 300 guests, and driver Agustín Beamonte signs to race it.
1982
PeopleWith Fangio’s letters, the Paganis leave for Italy
Horacio and his young wife Cristina set off with a tent, two bicycles and letters of recommendation that Fangio has written to Italian carmakers. There is no job waiting, and hiring is down across the industry.
The Lamborghini years
He starts at the bottom in Sant’Agata, becomes the company’s carbon-fibre man, and buys the autoclave his bosses refused to pay for.
1983
PeopleLamborghini takes him on, at the very bottom
After months of persistence he gets a job at Sant’Agata, by his own telling sweeping floors and doing basic jobs. Technical chief Giulio Alfieri has seen what he can do, and he climbs fast towards the company’s composites work.
1987
TechnologyThe Countach Evoluzione tests a composite future
Pagani’s small team builds a one-off Countach test car largely from carbon fibre and Kevlar. It is far lighter than the production car, but Lamborghini does not put it into production. Its lessons reach the Anniversary and the Diablo.
- Technology
Told no, he buys his own autoclave
Pagani asks Lamborghini for an autoclave to cure carbon parts at scale. Management refuses: Ferrari has none, so why should they? He borrows the money, buys one himself and sets it up in a rented building near the factory.
1988
DesignPagani restyles the Countach for its last act
For Lamborghini’s 25th birthday he reworks the ageing Countach, enlarging its rear air-boxes and adding new composite parts. Under the skin it is close to the 5000 QV, and the 25th Anniversary becomes the final Countach of its era.
- Design
A car of his own begins as Project C8
Around the end of the 1980s Pagani starts sketching his own car under the name C8, though his Lamborghini work keeps him from pushing it hard. The first scale models are still a few years away.
A car called Fangio
Composite parts for other firms pay for a secret project at night. Fangio opens the door to Mercedes, but dies before the car can carry his name.
1991
CompanyPagani leaves Lamborghini and bets on Modena Design
With the Gulf War hitting the car business and composite projects frozen, he breaks away. Modena Design makes composites by day for names such as Ferrari’s F1 team, Renault, Aprilia and Dallara. By night, he works on his car.
1993
TechnologyThe Fangio F1 goes into Dallara’s wind tunnel
By 1993 a model of the car, now named Fangio F1 after his friend and mentor, is ready to test in Dallara’s wind tunnel, with good results. Gian Paolo Dallara becomes another mentor to the younger man.
1994
CompanyMercedes-Benz agrees to supply a V12
Fangio, an honorary figure at Mercedes, opens the door. Pagani says he showed his prototype to Dieter Zetsche at the 1993 Geneva show, and months later had an M120 V12 promised. Small start-ups rarely get such a supplier.
1995
PeopleFangio dies, and the car loses its name
The five-time world champion dies before seeing the finished car. Out of respect, Pagani drops the name Fangio F1 and calls it Zonda, after the dry wind that sweeps down the eastern slopes of the Andes.
The wind from the Andes
An unknown name shows a carbon-bodied V12 at Geneva. Each new Zonda is wilder than the last, until a track car takes on the Nürburgring.
1999
New modelThe Zonda C12 stuns Geneva
An unknown Italian-Argentine maker shows a mid-engined carbon-bodied car with a Mercedes V12 and four exhausts in a square. It is already fully type-approved, to convince buyers and suppliers that this is no paper dream.
2000
VersionBack at Geneva with a 7.0-litre AMG V12
A year on, the C12 S follows the first car, with a larger engine tuned by AMG and many other changes. Pagani spends the next two years proving to suppliers and customers that his company will not vanish like other exotic start-ups.
2002
VersionThe Zonda S grows to 7.3 litres
At Geneva the 7.3 arrives with a new crankshaft and titanium connecting rods. Output reaches 555 PS and, with a higher red line, the car takes a real step forward from its 7.0-litre predecessor.
2003
RacingThe Zonda’s only Le Mans lasts ten laps
Team Carsport commissions a racing version, the Zonda GR, and enters it in the GTS class as No. 61 with Mike Hezemans, Anthony Kumpen and David Hart. A gearbox failure stops it after just ten laps.
- Version
The Zonda loses its roof at Geneva
Finished only days before the show, the Roadster has a carbon top with folding struts that one person can fit. Its central tub is reworked to keep the coupé’s stiffness, and Pagani limits it to 40 cars.
2004
VersionA one-off for the track: the Zonda Monza
A customer who already owns a Zonda S asks for a car to use on track, and gets the 7.0-litre Monza. Pagani later calls it the first car it designed purely for the circuit. It points the way to the Zonda R.
2005
VersionThe Zonda F: a tribute to Fangio, ten years on
The F that finally carries his initial is unveiled at Geneva. A more evolved AMG V12 gives 602 PS, or 650 PS in the optional Clubsport tune. Only 25 are planned, and they sell out.
2006
VersionThe Zonda F goes open-top
New triaxial carbon fabric lets Pagani redesign the structure so the Roadster F is as light as the coupé. It is limited to 25 cars and, according to Pagani, its chassis sell out at once.
2007
VersionThe track-only Zonda R first appears
Pagani started on a track car based on the F in 2006, then six months in tore it up and began again without constraints. The result surfaces at Geneva with a 6.0-litre V12 from the Mercedes CLK GTR racer.
2009
VersionFive cars for a Hong Kong request: the Cinque
Pagani’s Hong Kong dealer asks for the most extreme road-legal Zonda. After some reluctance, Pagani agrees to build five. It borrows heavily from the R, and is the first road car Pagani says uses a carbon-titanium structure.
2010
PeopleFirst customer Benny Caiola dies
The New York property owner, known for a vast Ferrari collection, was the first person to buy a Pagani and became a close friend of its founder. Six years later the Huayra BC will carry his initials.
- Version
A Zonda salutes the Frecce Tricolori
At Geneva, Pagani marks 50 years of Italy’s aerobatic team with a car in clear blue lacquer over bare carbon, with a small wing behind the cockpit recalling the team’s Aermacchi jets. Planned as a one-off, it becomes three cars.
- Version
The Cinque gets a removable roof
The road-going Zonda range gains an open version of the Cinque, again five cars plus a prototype. A redesigned carbo-titanium chassis and magnesium parts keep its weight to 1,210 kg.
- Racing
Zonda R laps the Nürburgring in 6:47
Marc Basseng takes the Zonda R around the Nordschleife in 6:47, over ten seconds faster than Ferrari’s 599XX. Pagani claims a record for production-based cars, a label that invites debate for a track-only machine.
Twin turbos and moving flaps
The Huayra replaces the Zonda with a turbocharged AMG V12 and active aerodynamics, yet customers keep asking for more Zondas.
2011
New modelThe Huayra arrives, named for an Andean wind god
Pagani’s second car debuts online, then at Pirelli’s Milan headquarters in February. Its 6.0-litre twin-turbo AMG V12 is exclusive to Pagani, and four independent flaps with an adjustable ride height keep the car balanced.
2012
CompanyTop Gear names the Huayra its hypercar of the year
Magazine honours arrive quickly: Top Gear gives the Huayra its 2012 hypercar title, and the car goes on to set the benchmark on the show’s test track with a 1:13.8 lap.
- Company
Customers will not let the Zonda die
Although the Huayra has replaced it, wealthy buyers keep asking for Zondas, and Pagani keeps building one-offs such as the 760 RS. Lewis Hamilton is among the owners, and his car was fitted with a manual gearbox.
- Version
The Zonda R Evolution appears at Goodwood
An updated R breaks cover at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, with parts and ideas from the 760 RS. Only the prototype is completed, and it later becomes a Revolución.
2013
VersionThe Revolución takes the Zonda to 800 PS
The final track Zonda is shown to clients at the Vanishing Point gathering at Pagani’s headquarters. Five are planned at €2.2 million each, with 800 PS, a 1,070 kg kerb weight and a driver-operated drag reduction system on the rear wing.
2015
CompanyAll 100 Huayra coupés are spoken for
Pagani’s engine agreement with Mercedes-AMG caps the coupé at 100 cars, and by February 2015 all have been sold. Attention turns to the Roadster that will follow.
2016
VersionThe Huayra BC honours the first customer
Geneva sees a sharper, lighter, more powerful Huayra named after the late Benny Caiola. Every body panel is new, it weighs 1,218 kg by Pagani’s figure, and it stays road legal. The run is announced at 20 cars.
2017
VersionFor his 60th birthday, Pagani builds his own Zonda
Unveiled at Pebble Beach as a present to the founder, the HP Barchetta has an open barchetta body, Group C-style rear wheel covers and tartan trim inspired by Fangio’s cars. Just three are made.
- Version
A Roadster that weighs less than the coupé
The Huayra Roadster is the star of Pagani’s Geneva stand. A new material, Carbo-Triax HP52, and a full revision of the parts make it 80 kg lighter than the coupé, Pagani says, and 52% stiffer. Again, 100 will be built.
2019
CompanyChassis 001 returns to Geneva after 20 years
To mark the Zonda’s 20th anniversary, Pagani restores the very first C12, which served for crash and homologation tests, and displays it at the same show. It is the calling card of a new restoration service, Pagani Rinascimento.
- Version
The Huayra Roadster BC opens up the BC recipe
Pagani combines the BC’s harder edge with an open body and an 802 PS version of the V12. Forty are planned, and it was meant to be the last series Huayra. It would not be.
2020
VersionThe Imola: 16,000 km of testing on one circuit
Named after the circuit where it was developed, this five-car road-legal hypercar covers 16,000 km at racing pace there, about three Le Mans distances. All five sell at €5 million each, before tax, and Pagani calls it a laboratory on wheels.
- Company
The 100th and last Huayra Roadster is shown
Nearly four years after its Geneva debut, the run ends with a car in exposed carbon, revealed on social media. Its owner’s love of Pagani began, the company’s film says, with a Zonda C12 seen at a dealer in Hong Kong.
- Version
A second salute to Italy’s aerobatic team
For the Frecce Tricolori’s 60th anniversary, Pagani follows the Zonda tribute of ten years earlier with three Huayras. A Pitot tube on the bonnet drives an airspeed gauge inside, and the V12 reaches 840 PS.
2021
VersionThe Huayra R revives the free-revving V12
Pagani’s most extreme car drops the turbos for its own naturally aspirated 6.0-litre V12, made with HWA, revving to 9,000 rpm and giving 850 PS. Limited to 30 track-only cars at €2.6 million before tax, it launches the Arte in Pista events.
Act III: back to the manual
Asked what they still want, customers answer simplicity and driving pleasure. The result is a V12 with no hybrid help and a gated gearbox.
2022
VersionTwo collectors ask for a long tail
In 2018 two clients asked for a Huayra inspired by the long-tail racers of the 1960s. The Codalunga’s engine cover is 360 mm longer, its body is cleaner, and prices start at €7 million. All five are sold.
- New model
The Utopia: no hybrid, and a manual gearbox
Pagani’s third car premieres in Milan. Customers asked for simplicity and driving pleasure, so against the trend it pairs a 864 PS AMG twin-turbo V12 with a seven-speed manual or automated gearbox. All 99 coupés are already taken.
2023
CompanyThe first Utopia reaches its owner
Deliveries begin about a year after the reveal, and the first customer car is reported in Monaco.
- Version
The Imola goes open-top
Meant at first as a simple roofless twin of the coupé, the project grows into something more complex, using the Roadster BC’s technology and the Huayra R’s aerodynamics. Eight are built, with 850 PS and a 1,260 kg dry weight.
2024
VersionHuayra R Evo Roadster: 900 PS and no roof
Pagani’s most powerful car yet is an open long-tail for Arte in Pista, drawing on IndyCars and historic Le Mans racers. The naturally aspirated V12 now gives 900 PS at 8,750 rpm, and downforce rises 45%.
- Version
The Utopia Roadster weighs the same as the coupé
The open Utopia keeps a dry weight of 1,280 kg, equal to the coupé, and adds a removable hard top. Pagani plans 130, each from €3.1 million before tax, and its exposed gearbox and pedal mechanisms stay on show.
- Version
The Epitome: the first manual Huayra
After 13 years, a Huayra finally gets three pedals. This one-off, shown at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, uses the Utopia’s seven-speed gearbox with a bespoke body, in blue carbon.
2025
VersionThe Codalunga loses its roof, and gains a manual
Grandi Complicazioni builds a Speedster version of the long-tail Huayra for ten customers, with lower, more curved glass and a manual option. Forty Paganis gather at Las Vegas in October for its show premiere. Deliveries start in 2026.
- People
Milan’s Politecnico honours the man who left university
Half a century after abandoning his studies in Argentina, Horacio Pagani receives an honorary master’s degree in Design and Engineering. The Bovisa campus shows his cars in an exhibition linking Leonardo da Vinci to the Utopia.
2026
VersionThree Huayra 70s mark the founder’s 70th birthday
Just as the HP Barchetta marked his 60th, three heavily reworked Huayras mark his 70th: Trionfo, Derecho at Goodwood in July, and Anima, unveiled at Concours at Wynn Las Vegas, where all three appear together.
Every model, at a glance
Production years of each road-car generation. Tap a bar to see its notable versions.
Zonda
Huayra
Imola
Utopia
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