Horacio Pagani
Born 1955
Founder of Pagani Automobili · Engineer · Designer
Argentine-Italian engineer who rose through Lamborghini, bet on carbon fibre and founded Pagani Automobili in 1992, maker of the Zonda and Huayra.
- Born
- 10 November 1955Casilda, Santa Fe, Argentina
- Nationality
- Argentine-Italian
Biography
Horacio Pagani was born in Casilda, in Argentina's Santa Fe province, on 10 November 1955. He moved to Italy in 1982 and joined Lamborghini, starting in basic jobs and working his way up to chief engineer; there he built the Countach Evoluzione concept.
Pagani was convinced that carbon fibre was the material of the future. When Lamborghini declined to buy an autoclave to make composite parts, he borrowed money in late 1987 and bought one himself. In 1991 he left Lamborghini to found Modena Design, a consultancy for carbon-fibre composites, and in 1992 he founded Pagani Automobili Modena.
The company's first car, the Zonda, took seven years to complete. It was followed by the Huayra, named after Huayra-tata, the Inca god of wind. In 2025 the Polytechnic University of Milan awarded Pagani an honorary master's degree in design and engineering.
Timeline
Cars
Pagani Zonda R
Pagani Huayra ImolaHoracio Pagani in 1CARS stories
- Pagani Zonda — the Car That Made Pagani's Name
- Pagani Utopia — the Third Pagani, with a Manual Gearbox
- Pagani Huayra — Horacio Pagani's Twin-Turbo V12 Hypercar
- Lamborghini Countach: the Wedge That Defined the Supercar
- Pagani Huayra Imola: the Five-Car Huayra Developed on a Race Track
- The History of Pagani: From a Composites Workshop to the Utopia
- Pagani Zonda R: The Track-Only Zonda
- Pagani Huayra BC: The 20-Car Huayra Named After Its First Customer
Related people
Sources
- Horacio Pagani — Wikipedia · accessed 13 October 2026