It would be fair to say that the Pagani range of hypercars, despite being very small, can be tricky to keep up with. Or perhaps we're not paying close enough attention. But with special editions, Zondas back from the dead and bespoke commissions on top, it can be hard to know which Modenese marvel is which. And that problem is magnified when it's a prototype you're not even meant to see...
To all intents and purposes, this Pagani appears to be a Huayra BC Roadster, the 40-car limited edition revealed back in 2019 and tasked with transferring the track focused intent of the coupe to a drop-top Huayra. BC, in case you had forgotten, stands for Benny Caiola, close personal friend of Horacio Pagani and the company's first customer. Anyway, all the cues are there: front dive planes ready to saw shins, mirrors atop of slashed front wings, giant brake discs behind enormous wheels, a rear diffuser seemingly from a GT3 car, the trademark quad exhausts... that are actually fake. Look a bit closer at the back of the car and the twin exhaust for this Huayra can actually be seen in the diffuser, looking rather more prosaic than that angled quad we've associated with Pagani for so long. These pictures were taken close to an AMG's test centre in Affalterbach, implying that the Huayra will receive a new powertrain as it hits 10 years old in 2022. Question is, what will it be?
For more than 20 years now, a Pagani has always had a V12 engine, and the V12 has always been provided by Mercedes-AMG. Thing is, there isn't a V12 that comes out of Mercedes anymore, with production having been wound up with the S65 AMG Final Edition. What's seen here, then, is potentially the first Pagani without 12 cylinders. At a guess, we'd say it might use the 73 AMG powertrain that's due soon, combining the 4.0-litre twin-turbo AMG V8 with electric assistance for what's expected to be 800hp - just about what the BC produced with the old V12. Quite what a hybrid system might do for the Huayra's famously slender kerbweight remains to be seen, but you wouldn't bet against Pagani finding a solution in one form or another.
It's being suggested that whatever this BC mule eventually manifests itself as will be a limited edition of some kind. Potentially, given the Huayra was revealed way back in 2011 and first on the road in 2012, it could be the car's final farewell. But that's nothing more than a moderately educated guess for now. Whatever the future does hold for Pagani in a more environmentally friendly future, you can bet it'll be doing things in a suitably dramatic fashion - we can't wait to see more.
Image credit | S.Baldauf/S.B.Medien
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