Perhaps reminiscent of the unfortunate trend of people putting rust wraps on their cars from a few years back, comes the most divisive hypercar spec in recent times. This particular $2.5 million Pagani Utopia, one of 99 coupes slated for production, has been finished in a weathered livery straight from the factory. Dubbed ‘The Coyote’, this Utopia marks the third Pagani owned by the same mystery millionaire, which also means he’s a pretty valuable client of the boutique supercar manufacturer.
The Pagani Utopia ‘Coyote’ wears a livery that appears inspired by Martini Racing liveries of the past, with Rosso Monza, Blue and Turquoise graphics over a base of Bianco Benny, a colour named after Pagani’s first customer, Benny Ciaola. If the offset racing stripe at the front doesn’t throw you, the artificial wear and tear around the front splitter, wheel arches, side skirts and rear bumper might, even if it is showing off the carbon fiber weave of the Utopia’s bodywork. Meant to recreate the wear and tear that endurance motorsport race cars might see during an event like the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Pagani describes it as “a fleeting glimpse of a livery shaped by endurance: untamed, imperfect, alive”.
Beauty is always in the eyes of the beholder, but in this case, it does feel like a look more suited to a ‘90s Honda Civic than the latest Pagani hypercar. Just to be clear, the Pagani Utopia is only the hypercar manufacturer’s third ever ground-up new car. It packs a 6.0-liter twin-turbo V12 handbuilt by Mercedes-AMG that delivers 852 horsepower. Weighing in around 3,100 pounds, this Italian masterpiece can accelerate from standstill to 60mph in about 3.1 seconds.
This isn’t Pagani’s first rodeo with exotic liveries. The company has previously delivered everything from exposed carbon fiber Huayra BC models to the track-only Huayra R that helped develop the Utopia’s suspension. But artificial aging takes things to a new level, while on the other hand, we have owners nonchalant when their new Pagani gets scratched. It’s like buying pre-ripped designer jeans, except these designer wheels cost more than most people’s houses and can outrun a fighter jet.
At its core, the Pagani Utopia ‘Coyote’ represents everything we love about hypercars: obsessive attention to detail, engineering excellence, and enough eccentricity to keep things interesting. There’s something charmingly meta about paying premium money for fake wear marks on a car that will likely spend more time in climate-controlled garages than actual racetracks.