Following the recipe:
There is something about Pagani. Ever since 1999, we have had absolutely no doubt that a Pagani is just that. They don’t try to be like anyone else.
The main character traits of Horacio Pagani’s cars are an extreme cab-forward – you can’t be in any doubt that there’s a lot of engine in the back – and a rear with an exhaust pipe in the center of something that’s obviously in a lot of trouble.
There’s another element that’s fairly constant as well, which made it not very surprising that a new model, without a roof, arrived at Monterey Car Week.
In many ways, he follows the same timeline as his colleagues at Ferrari and Lamborghini when it comes to the order of the launches. First the “regular” (since when has Pagani become regular?) model. Then you hold your breath for a few years, before the roadster arrives.
Then it takes a little more time, then something with a bit more pathos comes about. More horses from the machine supplier AMG – they have worked together for 25 years now – and slightly sharper driving characteristics.
And only then does the fun really begin – if you’re someone who follows along.
Lots of special versions
The special versions will then come on a continuous basis. And special versions of special versions.
I think that on the Huayra alone I counted more than 25 deviations. Very smart for the used market – if you can claim this is the only Huayra Codalunga with blue carbon, you can expect to fetch another million for it at the next auction.
A pro pos used car. Pagani celebrated its 25th anniversary last year (the company was founded in 1998 – the first Zonda came in 1999 so it’s 25 years this year too) by presenting the Pagani Officina where the customer can bring their almost new car after a few years and get it updated, or specially equipped according to the customer’s wishes.
Then we have the Rinascimento division which does as the name says: reborn the cars. Here the old cars are overhauled and restored according to original drawings and with original parts in original materials.
Brings them back to square one, in other words.
Grandi Complications
And the third division has a very clever name: Grandi Complicazioni. It should indicate that here they are doing something so complicated that only the very best with the best theoretical and practical background can complete these works of art.
Cars are then limited to five copies.
But the fun is that Grand Complications is a watchmaking expression. A Complication is an element of the watch that does more than make the movement show hours, minutes and seconds. If you put on a date or stopwatch, you have one or more complications.
When it doesn’t have too many like that, it has maybe 250 parts. But when it starts to get really complicated, perpetual calendar with moon phase and double tourbillon for example, we are talking about more than 1000 parts, and then we are talking about Grand Complication.
Then it seems to be a bit of a puzzle for Bugatti to come up with something as modest as just a Tourbillon.
The starting point
But to return to the starting point.
Pagani showed its Utopia in Milan in 2022.
It was the automaker’s third model after the Zonda in 1999 and the Huayra in 2011.
The Zonda Roadster came in 2003. The Huayra Roadster came in 2017. And of course the Utopia Roadster came too. But it only spent two years on the roofless, appearing in Monterey in August after a sneak premiere at home in July.
And it still looks like a Pagani.
So you just have to sit back and wait for the special editions, whether they be factory versions or limited editions from Grandi Complicazioni.
