PAGANI AUTOMOBILI BRINGS FOUR GENERATIONS OF HYPERCAR CRAFTSMANSHIP TO RÉTROMOBILE 2026

From 28 January to 1 February 2026, the annual Rétromobile exhibition once again brought collectors, manufacturers and enthusiasts together in Paris. More than half a century after its creation, the event remains an important meeting point for automotive heritage, bringing historic machinery and contemporary collector cars into the same conversation.

For Pagani Automobili, the 2026 edition offered an opportunity to present that dialogue through four hypercars displayed within the exhibition’s Ultimate Supercar Garage. The selection — the Zonda HP Barchetta, Huayra Roadster, Huayra R and Utopia Roadster — represented distinct chapters in the company’s development, from the continuing influence of the original Zonda to the technological experimentation embodied by the latest Utopia.

The cars differed considerably in purpose and character, yet each reflected the philosophy established by Horacio Pagani: an approach to automotive design in which materials, mechanical engineering and visual proportion are considered together rather than as separate disciplines.

The story began with the Zonda HP Barchetta, a highly limited interpretation of the model that established Pagani’s reputation. Produced in just three examples, the car was created as part of the Grandi Complicazioni programme, through which the Pagani Atelier works closely with individual clients on highly bespoke projects.

Its design maintains a connection with the original Zonda while incorporating developments drawn from subsequent Pagani projects. The monocoque combines Carbo-Titanium and Carbo-Triax HP52 composites, helping the car achieve a claimed weight of 1,250 kilograms while maintaining structural rigidity.

Power comes from a naturally aspirated Mercedes-AMG V12 engine developed specifically for Pagani and paired with a six-speed manual gearbox. Inside, the design draws on the history of motor racing and Horacio Pagani’s own automotive influences, including details inspired by the competition cars associated with Juan Manuel Fangio.

The result is a car that treats its past as an active design reference rather than a fixed historical point. The HP Barchetta connects the earliest chapter of Pagani’s road-car story with the engineering knowledge developed through the Huayra generation.

That evolution was also visible in the Huayra Roadster presented at Rétromobile. Conceived around the relationship between lightness, performance and sculptural form, the Roadster introduced a more open interpretation of the Huayra while retaining the engineering architecture of the series.

The example displayed in Paris incorporated aerodynamic elements inspired by the Roadster BC, including a dedicated front splitter and rear diffuser. Its 6.0-litre twin-turbocharged V12 produces 840 hp and 1,100 Nm of torque.

Weight reduction was central to the project. Its central monocoque is constructed using Carbo-Titanium HP62 G2 and Carbo-Triax HP62, while chrome-molybdenum steel is used for the front and rear subframes. The Roadster was engineered to be 80 kilograms lighter than its coupé counterpart without compromising the structural requirements of the car.

Pagani’s approach to materials is perhaps most apparent in the newer Utopia Roadster. Rather than pursuing electrification as part of its powertrain, the model retains a conventional internal-combustion architecture centred around a hand-assembled Pagani V12 developed with Mercedes-AMG.

Producing 864 hp and 1,100 Nm of torque, the twin-turbocharged engine is paired with a design philosophy that deliberately preserves a strong mechanical connection between driver and machine. The car weighs 1,280 kilograms and uses more than 40 composite material formulations, including Carbo-Titanium HP62-G2 and Carbo-Triax HP62.

Its aerodynamic treatment is similarly restrained. Instead of allowing aerodynamic hardware to dominate the design, Pagani has integrated the necessary performance features into a form that remains visually coherent. Active suspension, an electromechanical differential and electronic control systems manage the car’s dynamic behaviour.

The Utopia Roadster also provided one of the exhibition’s most technically distinctive talking points through its integration of Pirelli’s Cyber Tyre system. Developed in collaboration with Pirelli, the technology allows information from the tyres to communicate with the vehicle’s electronic systems in real time, creating a closer relationship between tyre performance, vehicle control and road conditions.

The Huayra R occupied a different place within the four-car display. Designed exclusively for circuit use, it represents Pagani’s approach when road-car requirements are removed and the focus shifts entirely towards track performance and safety.

Its visual language takes inspiration from the endurance racing prototypes of the 1960s, an era in which aerodynamic experimentation and sculptural bodywork were closely intertwined. Beneath that reference to racing history lies a dedicated technical platform.

The Huayra R uses a naturally aspirated 6.0-litre Pagani V12-R developed by HWA. The engine produces 850 hp and 750 Nm of torque, with its maximum rev limit reaching 9,000 rpm. The carbon-composite monocoque uses Carbo-Titanium HP62-G2 and Carbo-Triax HP62 and was developed to meet stringent motorsport safety requirements.

The structure incorporates a Kevlar-derived fuel cell and composite protection, including 20-millimetre carbon-fibre walls. Limited to 30 examples, the Huayra R also formed the foundation for Pagani’s Arte in Pista programme, which provides owners with a dedicated environment for experiencing the car on circuit.

Pagani Automobili was founded by Horacio Pagani in 1992 in Modena, Italy, following his earlier career in composite-material development and his work with Lamborghini. The company’s first production model, the Zonda, arrived in 1999, establishing a distinctive approach that placed advanced composite materials alongside traditional Italian craftsmanship. The Huayra followed in 2011, while the Utopia represents the marque’s continuing development of its philosophy around lightweight construction, analogue driving and mechanical engineering.

This heritage made Rétromobile an appropriate setting for the four-car presentation. The exhibition is rooted in automotive history, yet Pagani’s presence demonstrated that heritage need not be confined to restoration or preservation. A design language can evolve while retaining recognisable principles, and technical progress can coexist with an appreciation for mechanical character.

Seen together, the four cars offered a condensed history of Pagani’s development. The Zonda HP Barchetta looked back towards the origins of the marque; the Huayra Roadster demonstrated the evolution of its road-going engineering; the Huayra R translated the same philosophy into a dedicated track machine; and the Utopia Roadster brought those ideas into a contemporary setting shaped by new materials and electronic systems.

The significance of the display lay in that continuity. Pagani’s cars are developed for very different purposes, but they share an insistence that engineering should remain visible in the final object. At Rétromobile, four generations made that philosophy unusually easy to read: not as a static heritage story, but as an ongoing conversation between memory, craftsmanship and the possibilities of modern automotive technology.