The next decade or so promises to be one of significant change for the automotive industry, and nowhere more so than in the rarefied world of hypercars. Those manufacturers that have specialised in low volume cars with the most powerful combustion engines face a future where what they've specialised in stands to be outlawed. So things will have change and diversify, most likely; change takes time and - as importantly - money, which will all help explain why Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund has now acquired a 30 per cent stake in Pagani Automobili.
The company celebrates 30 years in 2022 and it's been more than 20 years since its first supercar, yet progress in the Pagani quarter of Modena hasn't been as rapid as some. The Huayra has been on sale for almost a decade, still uses a single-clutch automated gearbox and is powered by a 6.0-litre twin-turbo V12 that AMG doesn't use for its own cars anymore. Whatever comes next for Pagani, presumably making good use of the Saudi investment, will surely be an even greater leap than was the jump from Zonda to Huayra.
The Public Investment Fund is described in the Pagani press material as "one of the world's largest and most impactful sovereign wealth funds" - no surprise there - which is financing Saudi Vision 2030, a strategy to diversify the Saudi economy. Branching out from oil to hypercars is not exactly an original move (lest we forget the Bahrain fund owns a vast chunk of McLaren) but Pagani is precisely the sort of prestigious name that looks good in a brochure. As for the supercar business, the partnership will help it through "its long-term development milestones", of which there will surely be a few in the coming years.
Exact numbers haven't been released, though it's believed that the PIF will have a 30 per cent stake in Pagani. That would still leave the Pagani family as the majority shareholder, with Nicola Volpi and Emilio Petrone continuing with minority stakes. Horacio will remain as CEO and Chief Design Officer.
The money is already being put to good use. 'Pagani Arte' is a new plan to diversify the product offering into lifestyle; exactly what that means for now isn't clear, because lifestyle means many different things to different brands. Maybe its Miami apartments like Aston Martin or a theme park like Ferrari, but the announcement makes it clear that Pagani is keen to market itself with much more than just exclusive hypercars.
Commenting on the deal, Horacio Pagani said: "Today we are proud to announce an important partnership with PIF, a key step in our long-term growth strategy, which envisages significant investments to ensure that our next hypercars will keep conveying unique emotions, irrespectively of their powertrain technology.
"PIF represents the ideal partner to further consolidate Pagani positioning as an iconic brand in the hypercars segment as well as to support its expansion strategy in the lifestyle segment."
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