CarBrandLogos archive · Pagani · 2011

PaganiHuayra

Four active aerodynamic flaps that trim the car like an aircraft in flight.

Photo: Matti Blume · CC BY-SA 4.0

The story

A defining chapter in Pagani history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Pagani Huayra, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

Following the Zonda was a difficult brief, and Pagani's answer was to keep the philosophy and change almost everything else. The Huayra, named for an Andean wind god and shown in 2011, used a new Mercedes-AMG twin-turbocharged V12 and a carbo-titanium tub, a carbon fibre weave with titanium filaments intended to improve the structure's behaviour under impact.

Geneva Motor Show 7881 · Norbert Aepli, Switzerland (User:Noebu) · CC BY 3.0

Design and engineering

The engineering signature is on the outside. Four flaps, one at each corner, move independently under the control of a system reading speed, steering angle, throttle and braking, adjusting downforce and countering body roll under cornering and pitch under braking. It is a solution most manufacturers reached for only years later, and it allowed the car to keep clean bodywork rather than the fixed wings its rivals needed. Gullwing doors and a cabin full of exposed mechanism carried the Zonda's approach forward.

Pagani Huayra Imola · aguswiss1 · CC BY-SA 2.0

In production

As before, the special editions became the story: the stripped, harder BC, a roadster, the Imola with its deliberately unruly aerodynamic addenda, and the track-only R, which abandoned the turbocharged engine for a naturally aspirated V12 built by HWA specifically for the car.

Pagani Huayra BC Roadster · Bryan S · CC BY-SA 2.0

Legacy

Each series ran to small, fixed numbers, sold out before announcement, and the Utopia replaced it in 2022. The active aerodynamics are the part the rest of the industry took notice of.

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Produced

2011–2018

Units built

100

Engine

5980 cc Mercedes-Benz M275 engine#M158

Designer

Horacio Pagani

Technical specification

The Huayra, in detail.

Production: 2011–2018 (Huayra; 100 units) ; 2017–2019 (Huayra BC; 29 units) ; 2017–2020 (Huayra Roadster; 100 units) ; 2019–2022 (Huayra Roadster BC; 40 units) ; 2019–2021 (Imola; 5 units) ; 2020–2022 (Huayra Tricolore; 3 units) ; 2
Class: Sports car (S)
Body style: 2-door coupe; 2-door roadster
Layout: Rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive
Engine: 5980 cc Mercedes-Benz M275 engine#M158; Mercedes-AMG M158 twin-turbo V12 engine; V12 ; 5987 cc HWA Team; Mercedes-Benz HWA AG V12 (Huayra R, R Evo)
Transmission: 7-speed Xtrac Limited; Xtrac 1007 MT manual transmission; manual (Huayra Epitome) ; 7-speed Xtrac Limited; Xtrac 1007 AMT automated manual transmission; automated manual ; 6-speed Sequential manual transmission; sequenti
Designer: Horacio Pagani
Assembly: Italy: San Cesario sul Panaro
Manufacturer: Pagani Automobili