Horacio Pagani, the founder of Italian supercar maker Pagani Automobiles, said the company is exploring new technologies including electric vehicles, an area where Chinese expertise will help European brands . Pagani said in an interview in Hong Kong: “I think as a European market, we need to find the right way to increase investment in the electric vehicle market. This is always an opportunity, and we also need to learn from the experience of Chinese companies. “
Founded in the 1990s, Pagani is one of the few ultra-luxury car manufacturers still operating independently. According to Horacio’s son Christopher, the company based in Modena, Italy, produces about 50 cars a year and has orders through 2025.
The father and son will attend the Asia-Pacific launch of Pagani’s third-generation supercar Utopia in Hong Kong on Friday. Prices for the supercar start at just over 2 million euros, and only 99 units are planned to be produced. The car weighs just under 1300kg, thanks in large part to its carbon fiber frame.
Horacio Pagani is sometimes called the Leonardo da Vinci of automobile manufacturing. He and his company have been hand-customizing cars for customers for about 20 years, ever since the introduction of the first model, the Zonda.
Now, he has also joined a team established in 2018 to research innovative products such as electric vehicles. But Pagani’s son, Christopher, said that until batteries become lighter and charge faster, high-performance cars won’t go fully electric because they will be heavy and may run out of charge after just a few laps on a track. He declined to give a specific date when Pagani would consider launching an electric car.
However, the Pagani father and son said that car manufacturers should follow China’s lead in electric vehicles.
“Chinese brands have a lot of opportunities in the field of electric vehicles, and they are actually doing very well in terms of products and pricing,” Pagani Sr. said.
