By Sébastien Léger
La Capricorn 01 Zagato Tutto RossoUnveiled in spring 2026, it belongs to a rare category: creating genuine emotion. Extreme, manual, sculptural, almost unreal in its monochrome approach, it doesn't just seek to impress. It seeks to leave its mark, and it succeeds with a quiet, almost aristocratic strength.
Zagato, a signature that transcends time
Before even talking about Capricorn, we must begin by ZagatoBecause the name alone speaks volumes. Founded in Milan in 1919, the Italian company is not a manufacturer in the traditional sense, but a design studio, a signature, a culture of automotive design. Zagato embodies that very Italian ability to breathe movement into a line, elegance into tension, and memory into a silhouette.
For over a century, the house has collaborated with some of the world's most prestigious brands: Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Lancia, Maserati, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche. Each time, the same idea: to offer a rarer, more refined, more personal interpretation of the automobile. At Zagato, form is never arbitrary. It must transcend fleeting trends. It must still feel right forty years from now.
This is precisely what makes this signature so valuable. A Zagato doesn't try to seduce in a second. It settles in. It matures in the eye. And often, it becomes even more beautiful with time.
Iconic models that built the legend
Zagato's history is punctuated by models that have become legendary. It's impossible not to think of the...Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato, one of the most desirable cars in all of British history. It's also impossible to ignore the deep connection with Alfa Romeo, across the Giulietta SZ, Giulia TZ, TZ2, then the very striking SZ et RZ, all recognizable by this way of blending radicalism, finesse and character.
Zagato also left a strong mark on Lanciawith cars that were not only beautiful, but capable of fully existing in competition. This is where the very essence of the Milanese company lies, a design that never completely forgets the road, nor the race, nor the breath of great mechanics.
This history is far from anecdotal. On the contrary, it perfectly illuminates the birth of the Capricorn 01 Zagato. This car didn't come out of nowhere. It is part of a tradition of rare parts, signed coachwork, and cars designed to be remembered.
Capricorn: German engineering at the service of a vision
Facing Zagato, Capricorn It brings a completely different language. The language of engineering, structure, materials, and precision. The German group wasn't founded yesterday. Its industrial history goes back a long way, with recognized expertise in lightweight materials, composites, ultra-high-precision machining, foundry work, and applications stemming from motorsport.
This is what makes the project so interesting. On one hand, a big name in Italian style. On the other, a demanding, rigorous, almost obsessive German engineering foundation. The Capricorn 01 Zagato It was born from this encounter. And you can feel it immediately. It's not just a decorative concept. It was designed like a real car, with real technical coherence, a real driving philosophy, and real ambition.
The Capricorn 01 Zagato, a manifesto against the grain
When the Capricorn 01 Zagato When it appeared, it immediately captured attention because it went against many current trends. Where the industry repeatedly celebrates electrification, hybridization, and layers of digital filtering, it chose a different path: that of lightness, propulsion, the uncompromising internal combustion engine, and, above all, the manual gearbox.
That alone is enough to make it unique. A hypercar that's more than... 900 horses, equipped with a 5,2-liter supercharged V8sending its power to the rear wheels via a manual transmission in gated patternIt's not just rare. It's almost an act of automotive resistance. A way of reminding everyone that an exceptional car can still speak to the driver in ways other than the sheer brutality of its figures.
And yet the numbers are there. More than 900 ch, 1Nm, a weight contained under the 1,200 kilos, an 0 to 100 km/h in less than three secondsa top speed of 360 km/hOn paper, it's already impressive. In reality, what's most appealing is something else: the idea that all this power remains linked to a human gesture, to a hand on the lever, to a rhythm, to an involvement.
Tutto Rosso, much more than just a color
Then comes May 2026And with it, this version called Tutto RossoThe name might seem obvious. In reality, it says almost everything. It's not simply a red car. It's a vision entirely conceived around red. A total, almost obsessive, interpretation of color as an emotional material.
The bodywork, the interior, the proportions, the details—everything converges toward this same intensity. Here, red isn't just a decorative element. It becomes a language. A deliberate choice. A statement. Imagine the effect this has on a car that's already so sculptural: an even stronger presence, an amplified sensuality, a controlled theatricality.
Presented at Villa d'Este, in a setting perfectly suited to this kind of rare object, the Tutto Rosso It doesn't need to try too hard. It attracts naturally. Because it possesses that obvious appeal of very well-thought-out components. You can tell that the red was chosen not as a showpiece effect, but as a natural extension of the car itself.
A hypercar that prioritizes feel over noise
This is perhaps where the Capricorn 01 Zagato Tutto Rosso becomes truly interesting. It's not just rare, powerful, and spectacular. It also offers a kind of return to the essentials. Not in a retro or old-fashioned sense, but in a nobler one. The sense of... feeling.
Today, many high-performance cars give the impression of overwhelming the driver with technology. Here, it's the opposite. Everything seems designed to put the human element back at the center. The engine, the manual gearbox, the low weight, the rear-wheel-drive architecture, the choice of materials, the understated cockpit—it all tells the same story. This car isn't meant to drive itself. It's meant to be experienced.
And perhaps that's what makes it so desirable. It's not trying to flatter a particular era. It's attempting to rediscover a more direct connection between the machine and the person driving it.
Why this car already counts
The Capricorn 01 Zagato Tutto Rosso will never be a mass-produced car. It has neither the ambition nor the desire to be. And that is precisely what gives it its symbolic weight. It exists on the margins. Outside. A little out of step. As if it refuses to fit into the reassuring categories of the moment.
It also serves as a reminder that luxury cars can still produce genuine objects of passion without resorting to pastiche or caricature. With this car, Italian style doesn't clash with German engineering; it complements it. And performance doesn't stifle emotion; it fuels it.
In this Tutto Rosso, there is something very precious, a car that doesn't seem to have been born from a marketing brief, but from a conviction. The conviction that a hypercar can still be a rolling work of art, sensual, analog, almost intimate despite its level of performance.
Conclusion
With the Capricorn 01 Zagato Tutto RossoThis isn't simply a new hypercar. It's a car that embodies a certain vision of the automobile: freer, more demanding, more visceral. A car born from the dialogue between a leading name in Italian design and a German specialist in cutting-edge engineering. A red, manual, extreme car, but never gratuitous.
And that's probably why she hits the nail on the head. Because in the midst of an often overly rational automotive world, she still dares to talk about passion without blushing, or rather, in her case, with a full-blown blush.
Images: Zagato Automobile
