Why the Pagani Codalunga Is Worth Its $14.5M Price Tag

Earlier this summer, I had the unique opportunity to spend a day at Pagani on the outskirts of Modena and learn what makes a Pagani a Pagani (story coming in October). I also drove a Utopia Roadster, which you can read about here. However, while walking around the factory, I noticed a very special Huayra Codalunga Speedster put away in the corner, and its sheer beauty literally took my breath away. The effect was amplified by the fact that, prior to seeing the car in person, I didn’t think it was all that pretty. Boy, I was wrong.

Driving the Codalunga wasn’t in the cards for me that day, but not long after my visit, the folks at Top Gear got the chance to drive it, and this beautiful 16-minute video is the result. Needless to say, it’s worth a watch.

It’s quite entertaining seeing Ollie Kew, deputy director at Top Gear, wrestle with the same thoughts I had while driving a Pagani. How can something so beautiful, so artistic, so limited and expensive, be so dynamic—but most of all, so ferocious? Also, how can anyone justify spending 11 million GBP (about $14,500,000) on a car?

The answer—or rather, the justification—is that a Pagani is the culmination of a bespoke automobile, done in a way that touches all your senses. The steering speaks to your soul the same way the roar of the twin-turbo V12 energizes it. The way you hear the engine breathe in air before turning it into horsepower feels almost like you’re connected to a living being, not a car.

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Stylistically, the Codalunga is a work of art, maybe even more so than the “average” Pagani. It’s Italian for “tail long,” and it’s obviously quite accurate. The way the exhaust protrudes into space, and the lack of a mesh or rear grille, is extremely aggressive but also beautiful and graceful. There isn’t a single bit on that car that shouldn’t be there, or that doesn’t complement the design or the performance Horacio Pagani had in mind. It is, quite literally, a masterpiece.

And at the end of the day, that’s what you’re spending all those millions on. As Kew points out: if you own one of the 10 Huayra Codalunga Speedsters produced, you already own a few more Paganis, a LaFerrari, an LFA, an Aventador SV, and probably even a McLaren F1. He’s not wrong, but I’d add that if you own a Codalunga, you’re also surrounded by Picassos, da Vincis, Gauguins, and Cézannes. Why? Because you’re a patron of the arts, not just cars.

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