The company instead plans to continue to release V-12-powered cars.
While most of the car industry plans to pivot to hybrid or full electric power in the coming decade, Pagani has other plans. Founder Horacio Pagani confirmed in a recent interview with Autocar his bespoke supercar firm plans to stick with internal combustion engines following four years of research, saying EVs weigh too much and lack emotion.
“The challenge is to make an EV that gives good emotion like a normal ICE,” Pagani told Autocar at the Milan Monza motor show. “Pagani isn’t going to do something just with good performance, as you can do this [now], but to give emotion to the driver. “
The Italian carmaker set up a team in 2018 specifically to look into electric cars. Their goal was to research the viability for global homologation for safety standards while still being able to deliver a signature Pagani experience. “In four years, we never found interest in the supercar market [for an EV],” Pagani told Autocar.
“The idea should be to make a lightweight car, but this is the biggest challenge,” Pagani added. “The dream would be a 1300-kilogram EV, but this isn’t possible.”
Instead Pagani will continue to offer vehicles using V-12 engines sourced from Mercedes-Benz. The former Lamborghini chief engineer told Autocar he enjoyed working with the brand. “Mercedes is a big company, but you can still sit in front of a few people who decide, speak to them and be listened to,” he said.
Pagani’s lack of EV adoption certainly isn’t impacting sales. The C10, a codename for the yet-to-be-revealed car set to replace the Huayra, has already sold out, says Pagani.
“At the moment, 90 percent of energy is produced without renewables,” Pagani said. “It’s silly to think that only a few supercars [in the world] with ICEs can have a negative impact on the climate when 90 percent of energy is produced in a bad way.”
Keyword: Pagani Decides Against Developing an EV Supercar After Four Years of Research