When it comes to car shopping, most buyers look at price first and foremost. A lease can make sense when it comes to readily available assets, and there can be benefits when it comes to taxes as well. You may think that the people who browse seven-figure vehicles don’t give a second thought to these monetary matters, but you’d be wrong. The $2.4 million (starting price) Pagani Huayra Roadster is now available through such a transaction — and it is the most expensive new car lease in history.
Putnam Leasing will lease you the open-top handmade Italian hypercar, of which just 100 were slated for production (the same number as the coupe variant), for $25,339 per month. In a time when the average car price in the United States has risen to $36,270, according to Kelley Blue Book, it’s hard to digest that figure. But there’s more to this bank-busting deal.
You must first put down $700,000 and then sign on the dotted line for 60 monthly payments of over $25,000. That’s akin to buying both a Rolls-Royce Cullinan and McLaren 720S right off the bat, and then purchasing a Jeep Cherokee every month for five years. As with all leases, monthly payments depend on the down payment and lease duration.
If you crunch the numbers, you’ll find that the total lease price works out to slightly less than the purchase price of a new Huayra Roadster. So why wouldn’t the most well-heeled car enthusiasts on the planet just buy one outright? That’s because of the terms offered on cars of this caliber.
“Open-end leases are not like historic closed-end leases,” Steven Posner, CEO of Putnam Leasing, told Digital Trends. “It’s not like leasing a Mercedes from a dealer, where you get a closed-end lease on a car for 36 months and then buy or return it.” Open-end vehicle leases, on the other hand, are “more geared toward the individual who wants to own the car at the end.” Putnam also allows clients to transfer their leases to a different comparable vehicle at any time with no penalty.
Posner listed some more benefits, especially when it comes to taxes. Business owners can lease a car for work and make the payment with pre-tax dollars, and then write it off as a business expense. Note that this isn’t a given — though the IRS can’t tell you what to drive, your deduction depends on how you use the car and the case you can make for it.
Depending on what state you live in, you can lease a Huayra and pay taxes on your $25K-per-month payments, rather than buying or financing it and paying all the sales tax up front. This can work in states including Florida, Connecticut, California, Massachussetts, and North Carolina, with some state tax schemes being more beneficial than others. You only pay tax for the time you have the car. Buying a car outright also ties up money that can be used for investments and other ventures.
The Pagani Huayra Roadster uses a Mercedes-Benz AMG 6.0-liter V12 engine that puts out 764 horsepower at 5,500 RPM and 738 pound-feet of torque at 2,300 RPM. Power is sent to the rear wheels via a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission. It tops out at 210 mph, losing some speed to the coupe’s 238 mph top speed. As there are only a few places on the planet where you can push either car to its limit, this will likely not be an issue for most of the 100 Roadster drivers out there.
The Huayra Roadster is actually lighter than the coupe and it produces more power. Most of the weight loss comes from its “Carbo-Titanium” and “Carbo-Triax” monocoque chassis. Pagani says the material used in the Roadster’s platform is 52 percent stiffer than the coupe’s architecture.
Those who want to feel the wind in their hair have a choice of a carbon fiber or fabric top.
Check out how the Huayra measures up against the fastest-accelerating cars in the world.
