Pagani Utopia Roadster: This Is It

The Pagani Utopia is a work of art, with its twin-turbo V-12 engine, manual gearbox, and lavish interior. The only thing that could even remotely improve the Utopia experience is a removable roof. Well, great news—the new Pagani Utopia Roadster is here. And it's beautiful.

Finished in a Habanero Red exposed carbon fiber exterior—a color inspired by the Zonda's Dubai Red—the Utopia Roadster looks even better with no roof. It has all the same design elements as the coupe: The dual rounded headlights, the gaping grille, the circular taillights, and of course, the quad exhaust tips. It even keeps the coupe's unique butterfly doors.

The Roadster rides on staggered 21-inch front and 22-inch rear wheels wrapped in Pirelli P Zero Corsa Cyber tires. These are the fancy new tires that will communicate with the car; They read things like ABS, slip control, and traction control to help maximize performance. And there's plenty of performance to maximize.

The Utopia Roadster has the same twin-turbocharged 6.0-liter V-12 engine as the coupe. The Mercedes-AMG unit sends 852 horsepower and 811 pound-feet of torque to the rear wheels via an electro-mechanical differential in the rear axle. The Utopia Roadster has an electronically limited top speed of 217 miles per hour—just a few mph shy of the coupe's 220.

Buyers can choose from a seven-speed manual gearbox or a seven-speed automated manual with paddle shifters behind the steering wheel. The latter gearbox promises “lightning-quick shifts"—but it's still no manual.

Even with a removable hardtop roof, the Utopia Roadster weighs exactly the same as the coupe—2,822 pounds dry. Impressive. Pagani credits the strength and lightness of its advanced monocoque carbo-titanium chassis for helping maintain that weight. The company also used over 40 “formulas of composite materials” in the Utopia's construction to help keep it light.

The interior isn't any less spectacular than its fixed-roof counterpart. Carbon fiber, leather, and aluminum cover nearly every inch. The Utopia's signature exposed gear linkage remains for the seven-speed manual, and the shifter itself has a polished carbon fiber insert.

The steering wheel may not look all that interesting at first glance, but it's impressively detailed. It was constructed out of a single piece of 9,480-pound metal and took five-axis milling machines 28 hours of continuous work to complete. All told, the steering wheel weighs just 5.3 pounds.

As with the coupe, the Utopia Roadster will be a rare beast. Pagani only plans to offer 130 examples worldwide at a cost of €3.1 million each (or about $3.4 million USD). The first Utopia Roadster makes its world debut during Monterey Car Week in August.