Stunning €2.28m Pagani Huayra Roadster revealed

Totally drop-dead gorgeous or what? Pagani – not afraid to invoke even the name of Leonardo da Vinci in its creations – calls the new Roadster a masterpiece. And there’s no argument about that from us. Take your time to go through the pictures… as ever with a Pagani, it’s the jewel-like details and that exquisite interior that impress as much as the whole.

The numbers behind the car are just as spectacular, such as 754bhp and €2,280,000 base price. Plus VAT naturally. But there are only 100 to be built and they are all presold.

At this stage of the game – just a few weeks to its official unveiling at the Geneva Motor Show – Pagani isn’t bothering with a 0-62mph time, but the Huayra BC coupe delivers it in 2.8 seconds, along with a top speed of 238mph. Will the Roadster be slower? Unlikely.

At 1280kg, the Roadster weighs a little more than the BC but crucially it tips the scales at 80kg less than the standard Huayra coupe. One of the aims was to make a convertible both lighter and stiffer (by 52 per cent) than the coupe, already one of the leaner hypercars around with its hybrid carbon-titanium monocoque construction. That it has done so is quite some claim to fame.

As you may by now have imagined, this first all-new Pagani convertible since the Zonda Roadster of 2003 is rather more than a Huayra with the roof chopped off. That was more or less how it started in 2010: as a Huayra coupe with removable roof section and conventional doors. But three years later they tore up the plans and started with a clean-sheet design. Horacio Pagani says it was “the most complicated project we have ever undertaken”. Every single element of the car has been scrutinised and redesigned, they say. 

Like all Paganis since the first in 1999, the Huayra Roadster is powered by a Mercedes-AMG V12, here in 6.0-litre twin-turbo form. It delivers 754bhp at 6200rpm with a formidable 738lb ft of torque erupting from just 2400rpm. It’s all channelled to the rear wheels only via the seven-speed sequential gearbox developed for the BC and Roadster by UK firm Xtrac. Together with the electronic diff, the single-clutch unit weighs 40 per cent less than the coupe’s sequential gearbox. Ditto the suspension: by using a new lightweight aluminium, Pagani says it has trimmed the weight of components by 25 per cent. 

At each corner of the car are carbon-ceramic brakes and Pirelli P Zero Corsa tyres, rolling on 20-inch wheels up front and 21s at the rear. Pagani says the car can achieve lateral acceleration of 1.8g. 

Huayra, Incan for god of wind, was early into the world of computerised active aerodynamics and the Roadster inherits the latest system from the BC coupe, while adding tweaks of its own. Pagani says the focus has been consistent downforce in all conditions, along with minimising turbulence with the roof off.

Yes, you do get a roof. In fact, you get two. One is a rigid carbon fibre and glass panel – which doesn’t store in the car but which offers coupe-like protection from the elements. The second is a fabric top you take with you in case the weather takes a turn for the worse. 

We’ll give the last word to Horacio: “The pursuit of beauty as a fundamental concept, an unbridled work of art, intelligence and open-air passion...”

We reckon there are 100 very lucky people out there…