Get Hotcars Premium. Start your free trial today

The Zonda Utopia is gorgeous, comes with a manual gearbox option, gets analog dials, and is the stuff of automotive dreams!

The finest Italian artisans - or more appropriately - Pagani Automobili, have created what reminds us of a very important part of its history - the Zonda hypercar. Horacio Pagani, as always interacts closely with some of his customers, listens carefully, takes input, and grants them their wishes, with his ideas as well, thrown in for good measure.

Anyone buying a Pagani looks at beauty, detail, and power - and the best part is - they're willing to pay the price for it. But that's not all. Pagani's customers equally value lightness, simplicity, and driving pleasure.

Dare not anyone utter words like batteries, hybrid power, or a dual-clutch gearbox within the walls of Pagani's factory, because that's not what the clientele wants. They want a V12 that sounds like a T-Rex breathing! And they'd rather have a 7-speed manual over an automated transmission to go with it.

Pagani still wants to keep the emotion; they want the driver must feel everything the car is doing while working with the driver to deliver the best form of a 'classic' driving experience. Pagani has always been ambitious about its projects, and the all-new Utopia is proof.

The car gets its name from a place that does not exist in this world. It's more like the best place someone would dream of living in - and that's exactly what the Utopia hypercar intends to be: a dream for many aspiring supercar owners, but one that must remind them to take control of their own future, hustle, and achieve.

Related: Here's What Makes The Pagani Zonda HP Barchetta So Special

The Utopia is shockingly beautiful; it's not one of those cars chasing 'the world's fastest' taglines. Pagani is the least bothered about that. The lines are very typical of a Pagani, but the Huayra's replacement draws inspiration more from the Zonda instead. Unlike the Huayra's curves, Utopia follows a sharper design language - more in line with the Zonda, again. But the edges have been softened out this time over.

The windshield, the details of the wings and the bonnet, and its overall new outline give the eyes something new to behold. While the Zonda had all the edges, the Huayra had the curves, so we're assuming Pagani looked at both sketches and decided to give the Utopia details of both those cars. But more of the Zonda.

It is a design that will remain etched in the memories of those who see it. Unlike today's function-over-form hypercars, the Utopia focuses on beauty, without forgetting the importance of aerodynamics. Unlike other hypercars, the Utopia is free of multiple wings jutting out from every other corner, and instead, uses its design to achieve the best possible reduced drag and downforce.

There are so many gorgeous details to take in: the streamlined headlights, and the forged wheels that have a turbine-shaped carbon fiber extractor, which draws hot air from the brakes and significantly brings down turbulence beneath the car. The carbon-ceramic brakes have lighter calipers mounted on, and the massive 21-inch wheels up-front and the 22-inchers at the back add further to the car's pretty shape.

The Utopia's silhouette can be seen on the sidewalls of the tires, and the door mirrors don't curl upwards as they did on the Huayra; they've got their distinct look. The tail lights float on the sides of the rear wings. The signature titanium quad exhaust isn't going anywhere it has remained since the Zonda's days. It also has a ceramic coating to evaporate the heat.

The Utopia's cockpit, in this world of cars with laptop-like screens, is pleasing to the eye - because the Utopia has none, except the minimal display ahead of the driver. The design is a balance between being modern and retro. Big screens would've been nice, but no screens are nicer. The instruments are all analog, just like its predecessor and the dials even reveal what seems like the mechanism operating them.

The steering wheel is all-new and is made from a solid aluminum block, right from the spokes and the hollow rim, to the steering column boss. The pedals too are made from a single block of metal, while the signature gear lever's mechanism remains exposed.

Related: Why Horacio Pagani's Huayra Codalunga Is A Bespoke Long Tail Hypercar

The Utopia is powered by a 6-liter bi-turbo, V12 engine built by Mercedes-AMG, specifically for Pagani. It pushes out 864 hp and a whopping 811 lb-ft of torque. It is said that the engine revs higher, and is more powerful while meeting the required emissions regulations, even in California. There was no way paddle-shifters would've made it to the Utopia, because that's not what Pagani's customers want, apparently.

They wanted a 7-speed manual, and Pagani gave them just that. The transmission was developed in partnership with Xtrac. Drivers still want to feel fully in control, with the entire car's safety in the hands of the driver's judgment. Pagani listened carefully, and the result is a hypercar the world has fallen in love with, yet again!

Rehan got published for the first time at the age of 17, having written a feature on a Triumph Herald in print. He uses his writing as a tool to express his fondness for all things automotive even today, aged 28. Collecting scale models is a hobby close to his heart, and he wishes to sprinkle pixie dust on them only to see them grow into full-sized cars. He now represents HotCars.com.