Pagani Utopia Roadster revealed, and it’s a V12, roofless piece of art

Art sometimes doesn’t need vast explanation. If something just hits you in the right spot for whatever reason, you don’t have to say a word. Which’ll make this story about the new V12, manual-gearbox Pagani Utopia Roadster a tad… challenging.

Because ooft. Pagani is a specialist of course, in blending art and engineering together – in the mould of Horacio’s great idol, da Vinci – but really, a carbon-red roadster with an AMG V12 doesn’t need reams of explanation. It’s just Good. Very, very Good.

Let’s start with a bit of context. Pagani designed the Utopia as both a hard-top and a Roadster at the same time, meaning this version is pretty much and quite literally a carbon (fibre) copy: monocoque, suspension, brakes and all. It also means a dry weight of just 1,280kg, just like the Coupe, which in the 2024 world of 2.4-tonne BMW M5s is nothing short of astonishing.

‘A-ha,’ you cry, ‘I can see a hard-top on this car too!’ And you’re right: the new Utopia Roadster is basically three cars in one. There is indeed a hard-top cover – with a see-through panel – that can be removed and stored in your air-conditioned garage or living room, along with a removable soft-top, able to be stored in the car.

Then of course, there’s the version you’re all here for which does away with those troublesome overhead fixings, instantly transforming this 1,280kg chunk of unobtanium into a piece of moving (really very quickly) open-air theatre via 6.0-litres of Merc-AMG goodness. It’s the same spec you get in the Coupe, meaning two turbos, 864 horsepowers at 6,000rpm, and 811 torques available between 2,800rpm and 5,900rpm. A very, very Good spec.

It is sent, like the Coupe, to the rear wheels via your choice of seven-speed Xtrac automated manual, or a proper seven-speed manual, to the tune of 217mph flat out. Or, perhaps more fittingly, to the tune of a big, AMG V12 doing its thing, because 99 per cent of a V12 roadster’s appeal lies in how that engine sounds ricocheting off a mountainside. In the Coupe, we said the noise is “at once soothing and alarming”. Should be good without a roof, then.

Because of the design of that carbon-titanium monocoque, the Roadster follows the form of the Coupe to a tee, Pagani simply assuring us the airflow is being carefully guided around the car, through wheel passages, around the sides and down to the trailing edge.

It follows the Coupe’s lead inside, too, so you’re delving into a world of handcrafted, exquisite analogue jewellery. There are no massive portrait touchscreens here, just dials, a gearlever, expanses of carbon and leather, and a fat steering wheel. Like we said, very, very Good.

Special shout out to the tyres. Pirelli has devised a ‘Cyber Tyre’, each one fitted with sensors that feed info back to the stability control systems. This being a Pagani, no doubt it’s doing so to a backdrop of opera.

It commands an obvious premium over the Coupe. Pagani is building just 130 Utopia Roadsters, each starting from €3.1m excluding taxes. So in the UK, that’s a minimum of… just over £3.1m. We say starting from, because “the sheer number of colour and upholstery combinations available makes it impossible for two Utopia Roadsters to be identical”.

Speaking of spec, the Utopia Roadster will be given its public debut next month with the optional ‘Sport’ pack. This means: more carbo-titanium in the seats (fitted with 20 per cent lighter seat padding), shift paddles, gearlever and floor mats as well as around the body, a titanium exhaust, ‘Aeroblade’ carbon deflectors on the wheels to help cool the Brembo brakes, and a set of Pirelli P Zero Trofeo RS tyres.

Horacio himself uses a few words to describe his latest work, describing it as “the pinnacle of our ongoing research aimed at crafting objects combining the most sophisticated technology with timeless design”.