Not content with being fined by the Taste Police once already, Pagani recently committed the most heinous design crime of the last year. It’s called the Codalunga, a AUD$10 million slab of automotive eyesore that proves once again that money can't buy taste.

The Huayra-based Codalunga is Genesis for Pagani’s new Grandi Complicazioni special projects division. It’s the car that sets the standard for Paganis to come. Perhaps they set the bar low on purpose.

...the interior looks like it was styled by an ‘80s steampunk fetishist who was high on LSD.

With the Codalungam, Pagani violated a frankly disturbing number of immutable design laws. For one, there are the strange, blue headlights that were plucked from a pre-2000s concept car. Then there’s the interior (admittedly, not a Pagani strong point) that—with its strange mix of exposed metal, gaudy lights and outdated infotainment screen— looks like it was styled by an ‘80s steampunk fetishist who was cooked out of their mind on LSD.

However, the Codalunga’s most reprehensible feature is the utter travesty that is its rear end. Even the knowledge that in its belly lies an uprated 6.0-litre twin-turbo V12 producing 626 kW (850 PS) and 1100 Nm (811 lb-ft) of torque is not enough to distract from the fact that the Codalunga has one of the worst rear ends of any supercar ever made.

I cannot shake the thought that the Codalunga looks like a Huayra that tried driving off while its arse was caught in a giant, immovable mouse trap. It isn’t graceful. It’s grotesque. And that’s a great shame.

The name Pagani used to mean ‘art on wheels.’ Indeed, the Zonda was—and remains—one of the most beautiful cars to ever grace Earth's roads. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

The worst part? They’re releasing five of them into the wild.

Share this post