At a time when the automotive industry is speeding up its transition to electric vehicles, Pagani is choosing a contrarian strategy: slowing down. The Italian manufacturer is not giving up on the zero-emission hypercar, but is suspending its programme until the technology, the market and the very essence of the brand can truly converge. A rare choice, but one that says a lot.
Twists and turns in the process
Since announcing its electric intentions almost a decade ago, Pagani has been raising hopes of a ‘zero-emission hypercar’. Today, however, the Italian firm is putting the project on hold. Not for lack of ambition, but because the realities of the market, technology and the brand’s own philosophy require time to mature. However, if some people thought that Pagani was giving up on electric cars, the brand retorts that it is not. The project is frozen but not buried. Until the right ingredients – lightweight batteries, genuine demand and a stable regulatory framework – are in place, Pagani prefers to look after the V12 and wait.
In 2016 – 2017, Pagani set up a team dedicated to an ambitious brief: to design an architecture capable of eventually accommodating an electric variant… or remaining combustion-powered. The brief was based on a clear idea: not to sacrifice the brand’s DNA, even while exploring electric power. The partnership with Mercedes-AMG, the historic supplier of the V12, has even been extended to include electric components. (An « electric hypercar by 2024 » horizon had even been publicly mentioned. For several years, the idea of a 100% electric or even hybrid Pagani was more than just a media fantasy. But between 2017 and 2022, internal studies, prototypes and simulations gradually came up against the harsh reality of the field. In the end, the project was not abandoned… but temporarily shelved.
Silent customers and a problematic weight
In the very exclusive world of hypercars, customers are not the anonymous masses: they are a few enthusiasts, prepared to pay fortunes for a rare, emotionally-charged object. And when Pagani proposed an electric version of the Utopia on paper, the response was chilling. Not one buyer showed the slightest enthusiasm. For a craftsman like Pagani, the message was very clear. Launching a model that even its customers reject is taking an insane risk. What’s more, at a time when high-performance electric saloons are competing for acceleration, the real added value remains the experience, and today, for Pagani customers, the V12 is the guarantor of that.
One of Pagani’s obsessions, and what defines its DNA, is lightness. However, batteries have always been one of the worst enemies of thinness: a pack big enough to offer the range, performance and reliability demanded by a hypercar would, according to Pagani, explode the weight. The hybrid, often presented as an intermediate solution, did not convince either. According to the factory’s engineers, it would be a ‘bad compromise’: several hundred kilos more, for a result that does not do justice to the Pagani experience.
A case that speaks volumes about the transition of hypercars
The San Cesario-based company isn’t just waiting for better batteries. It is waiting for a moment when an electric Pagani can be something other than an engineering exercise: a rolling sculpture, a complete sensory experience, an emotional object as coherent as a Zonda or a Huayra. Until this equation is resolved, offering an electric version would be tantamount to circumventing the aesthetic and philosophical promise that has underpinned the brand for over thirty years. Pagani wants to enter the electric era, but not with an opportunistic product. The manufacturer is aiming for perfect alignment between technology, desire and identity.
The Pagani scenario is not like that of all manufacturers. Some brands, particularly the pure electric players, are rushing headlong into the market. Others, very attached to the internal combustion tradition, like certain hypercar players, are observing and waiting. The reality is that the hypercar remains an extraordinarily specialised segment. Those who buy these machines are not necessarily looking for energy efficiency or ecological transition: they are looking for the thrill, the mechanical gesture. In this context, imposing electrics risks confounding expectations. Pagani has understood this: for the time being, the right luxury is patience. The brand has not turned its back on the future. It has simply decided to wait for its own future and that of electric cars to coincide.
Sources: www.topgear-magazine.fr – www.sportauto.fr –
