We don't doubt the roofless Pagani Utopia Roadster can deliver ruthless performance, but its beauty blows you away first
As modern cars get larger, heavier and start to lose their beauty and elegance, Pagani bucks the trend with its onslaught of exquisite automotive perfection.
Presented here in photos is the jaw-dropping Utopia Roadster, which is to be unveiled in the flesh at this year's Monterey Car Week in August.
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We understand that Singapore deliveries for the Utopia Coupe will start towards Q3 of 2024, while the first customer Roadster is only expected to arrive in 2026.
According to our sources, more than five Utopia Roadsters are already spoken for in Singapore.
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However, they could be kept in bonded storage and may not necessarily be registered for road-use here.
With the high duties/taxes applied to the car when it is registered here, the Roadster's €3.1m (est. S$4.5m) starting price in Europe will jump to over S$20m in Singapore.
True to Pagani form (and since the Huayra was introduced), the Utopia (in both Coupe and Roadster guises) can be road-registered anywhere in the world.
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This means that the nitty-gritty homologation minutiae in all the different markets have been accommodated in the creation of the car, for both right- and left-hand drive variants.
For a small volume boutique manufacturer, this is a very big deal indeed.
Like the Utopia Coupe, the Roadster will be available in a choice of either 7spd semi-automated manual or a pure manual transmission... yes with three-pedals!
The beast at the heart of this beauty remains the familiar AMG-sourced twin-turbo 5980cc V12 – that incidentally is built on a dedicated line – which delivers 864hp and 1100Nm.
We last sampled the sheer ferocity of one of Pagani's twin-turbo V12s in the limited edition Huayra Codalunga.
The shock and awe we felt as we basked in the aura of this object of beauty quickly transformed into a whirlwind of reverence and plenty of respect as we realised it could walk the talk as well... and deliver plenty of feels in the process.
What we're trying to say is, Pagani doesn't conjure-up its automotive art for it to sit pretty locked away in one's garage, because they are intended to be driven... and driven hard at that.
From Zonda to Huayra and now Utopia, there's an innate grace and beauty to his exquisite creations that sees the perfect intersection of Art and Science – in fact it should come as no surprise he draws inspiration from visionary Leonard da Vinci.
The brand continually demonstrates its intimate relationship with materials and the mechanical in its ability to bend Science to its will.
Built around a Carbo-Titanium composite monocoque chassis, the Utopia Roadster tips the scales at just under 1.3-tonnes (like its Coupe counterpart, or around the weight of a VW Golf) and can be experienced in three different expressions: completely topless, with a hard-top and with the soft-top.
Founder, Horacio's vision isn't limited to just the performance, because his eagle-eye for detail extends to the aesthetics and tactile feel of every component as well... even the bits not normally visible – a philosophy inspired by the world of haute horlogerie.
The aesthetics of the cockpit are even more important in the case of the Utopia Roadster, because it is exposed to all and sundry with the roof down, or through the expansive glass window of the hard-top.
Naturally, all the cars are fully-customisable, both inside, out and even mechanically, to every owner's desire, so we'd expect that none of the 130 units available will be similar!
As ever, Horacio Pagani marches to the tune of his own beat – it is clear that every Pagani is the product of one man's vision and not a committee.
In many ways, the Pagani brand defines itself, as opposed to chasing trends, absolute outputs or tit-for-tat lap records. and in doing so, sets an immeasurably high benchmark for the followers.
And in a world obsessed with political-correctness, the Pagani Utopia could well be the sort of utopia all petrolheads are in search of.
