The Pagani Zonda isn’t the most common of Italian-Argentian-Germanic supercars. In fact, over the last decade of production, only about 100 units have made it into the hands of wealthy connoisseurs. That only works out to about 10 cars per year. Still, it is one of the most exciting and talked about exotics on the road because of its stunning attention to detail, huge pricetag, magnanimous 7.3L Mercedes V12, and a sprinkling of entomological magic.

Now, Evo UK’s Harry Metcalfe has the inside scoop on the Zonda’s replacement, internally known as the C9. His 6 nuggets of knowledge are below.

1) The car will arrive in 2010; expect to see it this autumn. At one point, back in 2008, the plan was to launch the C9 at the 2009 Geneva show but as the economic meltdown gathered pace, Horacio decided 2009 was not the year to bring out a Zonda replacement, especially as demand for the Zonda R turned out to be much greater than anticipated. He also managed to persuade Mercedes to build a special batch of new 7.3litre V12 engines, which allowed him to create the limited run Zonda Cinque Coupe and Roadster.

2) The new car is all new (3770 new parts) and nothing like the scoop photographs currently doing the rounds on various websites. These originated in the US back in 2008 and show a heavily modified Zonda body, with the new mechanicals underneath. Here’s a link to our story we did in 2008, which features the same pictures as are doing the rounds now;

3) The new car will be a V12 with twin turbos, exact power and torque is yet to be finalised but expect around 700bhp+ and 1000Nm.

4) I understand  Horacio is keen to get his new factory up and running, before he shows the car, as he wants production of the C9 to start straight after its launch. Hence why it’s not appearing until later in 2010.

5) Expect the price to be close to 1M Euros, once taxes are added.

6) The new car features some very trick, active aerodynamics, which reduce drag but still provide massive downforce.

[Evo]

[Image credit: 3Baci/Flikr]