The Zonda C12 is presented at the Geneva Motor Show.
“The shape had to be sensual, the wheel arches should recall a woman’s bosoms, the rear bonnet the hips. Inside, the seats would be shaped like an inverted pyramid to wrap around the shoulders, giving a sense of power to the man, and protection to the woman.”
Horacio Pagani began this adventure with barely any means. Until 1998 he funded the Zonda C12 project exclusively by himself, aware that no one would believe in such a challenge if he himself had doubted. The intention was to create a car so captivating on an emotional level that a customer would buy it without even thinking.
The car was supposed to have the sensual traits. Horacio thought of combining the sinuosity of a curvy woman with the aggressive look of a fighter-bomber, that is, the ultimate expression of speed, technology, exaggeration and engineering, taking as stylistic inspiration the cars of LeMans of the late 80s and early 90s. The choice of the engine was obvious. Fangio wanted it to be Mercedes and Pagani was happy with it; with that twelve-cylinder engine that represents the history of the Italian car.
Carbon fibre is an extraordinary material, which in its raw state suits the most complex form, following refined aesthetic lines, sinuous and harmonious, but which, after a long process, hardens and allow to create rigid or flexible pieces, crushproof or elastic, exceptional for strength and lightness. The Zonda was the first homologated road car to be presented with the fully naked carbon look, and with the unveiling of the Zonda Cinque, it will be the first to have a carbo-titanium frame, witnessing the bold vision Horacio had in believing firmly, since the Lamborghini years, in composite materials.
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