Horacio Pagani: «We’ve been working on an electric Pagani»

While many luxury automakers are reevaluating their electric vehicle ambitions, Horacio Pagani has just reminded us why his brand has still not taken the plunge. As a guest on stage at Ignition—the event organized by Quattroruote to celebrate its 70th anniversary—the founder of Pagani He revisited a project that had long remained in the shadows: an electric hypercar developed alongside the Utopia. And his conclusion is clear: customers simply didn’t want it.

An electric Pagani that has been in development for several years

While Pagani’s teams were working on the Utopia, they were also developing an all-electric 100 % version. Horacio Pagani explains that this project required an enormous amount of resources, to the point that it became more complex than the internal-combustion engine car. «We worked on it until 2022,» he said. «For me, it was a much more difficult project, and we ended up spending more time on the electric car than on the one with an internal combustion engine.»

But despite several years of development, the project never made it past the planning stage. The reason is quite simple, according to the founder of the San Cesario sul Panaro-based brand: no one was interested. «No one showed any interest in this idea,» he explains. «I would have liked to see it come to fruition, if only to recoup the investments we’d made. We’re too small a company to work on projects that don’t pan out.»

A message that never changes

This recent statement does not come as a complete surprise. A year ago, Pagani acknowledged that its dealers and its customers had shown no enthusiasm for an electric hypercar.

For several years now, the Italian automaker has believed that such a car would be too heavy to stay true to Pagani’s DNA. Internal simulations indicated it would weigh several hundred kilograms more than a model equipped with the AMG V12. The manufacturer therefore continues to rely on its 6.0-liter twin-turbo V12 engine, the brand’s true hallmark. For its customers, driving pleasure, the sound of the engine, and the driving experience remain essential elements that an electric powertrain still struggles to replicate.

«There's too much ideology surrounding electric vehicles»

Horacio Pagani also shared his analysis of the energy transition in the automotive industry. In his view, the debate surrounding electric cars has become too ideological. He believes that the push to rapidly transition to all-electric vehicles—particularly with the 2035 deadline in Europe—has weakened part of the traditional automotive industry. The executive also points out that electricity generation still relies heavily on fossil fuels in several countries.

However, Pagani does not present himself as an opponent of electric vehicles. In fact, he has praised certain existing projects, notably citing Pininfarina’s electric hypercar (the Pininfarina Battista), which he considers high-performance and successful.

His message is therefore more nuanced: an electric Pagani isn’t definitively ruled out, but it will have to meet customer expectations and preserve the brand’s spirit. So far, that simply hasn’t been the case. In the meantime, the V12 remains at the heart of Pagani’s designs, while the Italian founder continues to champion a vision of the automobile in which the thrill of the engine remains just as important as technology.