More about car makes. I’ve previously written of my erstwhile idiosyncratic car-naming skill. However I thought I still knew all the makes even though nowadays I’m often unable to name them when I see cars – in the metal, or in photographs. Until a couple of weeks ago when during a visit to my friend and neighbour Dorothy, she showed me some photographs she’d taken. ‘This one’s a Zonda,’ she said. ‘A what?’ I blurted. ‘A Zonda. One of the fastest road cars in the world,’ she retorted. And she went on to tell me she saw one competing in this year’s Targa Tasmania. According to Wikipedia, the Zonda’s a mid-engined sports car produced by Pagani in Italy. It debuted in 1999. About 10 cars are made per year. And up to September 2008, only 95 Zondas had been built. So it’s exclusive. And swish, too. So now I know of the existence of Pagani and its Zonda. But with a 7.3 litre 12-cylinder engine, the Zonda won’t get anywhere near the upgraded US fuel efficiency benchmarks President Obama announced earlier this week. A few people in the world can afford Zondas, but the world itself can’t. It may be an engineering marvel, but its existence is irresponsible. Hopefully it’ll cease production. And soon. But if Pagani’s engineering wizards turn their attention to producing an electric Zonda, that’d be a different story. For sure.
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