While some cars flex their muscles on the track, others are busy flexing their owner’s cheque book. The rare Pagani Zonda HP Barchetta does both, and oh, it’s now also the world’s most expensive car.
The Pagani Zonda might’ve ended its glorious 18-year production run last year, but it’s not yet done with making the news, because this particular road rocket will set you back by €15 million (S$23.8 million). This means that it snatches the top spot from Rolls-Royce’s Sweptail — last year’s S$17.4 million coach-built coupe that was inspired by luxury yachts and 1920s Rolls-Royces. If you were thinking of selling an organ to fund what could possibly be your wildest fantasy, the biggest ticket option you can legally sell is a heart, but that would only get you slightly over S$2 million.
For that price, you can buy six Bugatti Chiron Sports and still have spare change, so let’s attempt to justify the cost. For one, the ‘HP’ designation is named after Horacio Pagani — an endorsement he doesn’t give out so freely. Then there’s the madcap V12 that sits within this hypercar, a naturally-aspirated 7.3-litre biturbo wunderkind by Mercedes-AMG that’s hooked up to a six-speed manual. At 790hp and 850Nm, this is also the most powerful road legal Zonda ever produced.
Weighing a mere 1,250kg, the Zonda HP Barchetta sees a carbon fibre body sit atop a chassis made from Pagani’s “Carbo-titanium”. Its suspension and massive brake set-up are borrowed from the wild Huayra BC, with 380m ventilated discs all around that cools down more efficiently, especially when you’re driving hard. The six-piston calipers up front and four-piston calipers at the back hide behind swanky 20-inch front and 21-inch rear forged aluminium wheels that sport different colour inlays, casually matching the car’s electrifying blue paint job.
Pagani hasn’t yet released performance figures, but legend has it that this topless beauty’s top speed sits around the region of 338kph. However, only three lucky people will find out — one being Mr. Pagani himself.