To non-petrolheads, a Pagani Huayra might sound like an obscure vegetable in the latest fad diet. It’s in fact an ultra-exclusive Italian supercar that makes Lamborghinis and Ferraris look decidedly mainstream by comparison.
When too many of your neighbours are driving Aventadors, Pagani Automobili is who you go to in order to stay ahead in the one-upmanship game. The niche carmaker was founded in 1992 by Horacio Pagani, formerly of Lamborghini, and its first car was the Zonda launched in 1999.
Only 100 Pagani Huayra Roadsters will ever be built, and two South African owners are among the fortunate few around the world to have bagged one.
Daytona, the local Pagani importer, took the wraps off one of these carbon-fibre beauties at the opening of its new super dealership in Melrose Arch, Johannesburg this week.
Pagani occupies a small corner of the new 8,000 square metre dealership which is also home to the McLaren, Aston Martin, and Rolls-Royce brands after Daytona moved from its long-serving Sandton facility.
If you could still order a Huayra, this is where you’d choose your colour and trim and personalise the car to your heart’s content.
Like the Zonda it succeeds, the Huayra is powered by a fire-breathing Mercedes-AMG V12 6-litre twin turbo engine, this one producing tarmac-wrinkling outputs of 561kW and 1,000Nm of torque. This gives it the ability to blitz the 0-100km/h sprint in a claimed 2.9 seconds and reach a hair-ruffling 337km/h top speed – making it aptly named after the Incan god of wind, Huayra-tata.