The world has a new hypercar: meet the Capricorn 01 Zagato

Rétromobile 2026 wasn’t just about classic cars and creative concepts. The recent Parisian show also saw a few interesting debuts, including the presentation of the 01 Zagato hypercar by debutante German hypercar maker Capricorn. The two-seater was revealed last year in rendered form before the first physical prototype made its debut at Belgium’s Zoute Grand Prix in October 2025.

One more development car will be built before customer deliveries start towards the end of 2026. So what can the lucky owners of this ultra-exclusive hypercar expect? The plan is to hand-build 19 examples of the 01 Zagato coupé, priced at €2.95 million. Other players in this elite sector have followed up a fixed-roof car with an open model, so that could also be on the cards.

For collectors of such automotive unicorns, the chief draw is exclusivity and attention to detail that goes above and beyond even the most elaborate and ostentatious machines created by the existing brands. The market for multi-million-pound hypercars is small but frenzied, as new brands instigate collaborations or acquire naming rights in order to boost interest in a short production run of a car/investment vehicle.

The headline name here is of course Zagato, the Italian styling house that has had its own economic ups and downs throughout a long history of association with iconic sports car makers around the world. Capricorn, which is based in Mönchengladbach, Germany, has put together a tasty menu of mechanical and aesthetic delights.

This all starts with the Zagato-designed bodywork, with its pinched waist, gullwing doors and familiar double-bubble roofline. As hypercars go, the 01 steps back from the excessively gauche displays put on by other marques and keeps its quota of exposed carbon fibre down to tasteful levels (customers can, of course, ramp it back up again).

Capricorn, which can trace its history back nearly a century, has carved a niche in automotive and aerospace engineering, particularly in building carbon fibre and mechanical components. The 01 Zagato is the group’s first car and will also serve as a rolling advert for its technical skills. The car’s front and rear end treatments are less brusque than equivalent Italian exotics, resulting in an Italian suit that’s both sharp and timeless.

Under the skin, Capricorn has plumped for a 5.2-litre supercharged V8 putting out 900PS to the rear wheels through a five-speed manual gearbox. That’s practically antediluvian in automotive terms, but it’s all about delivering an analogue experience.

Partnering with Chopard on a luxury watch – the Lab One Zagato Concept – that was showcased alongside the vehicle simply elevates the idea of a hypercar as being more akin to a bespoke timepiece than a mode of transport. Meanwhile, Capricorn will be teaming up with the Louyet Group, a premium automotive dealer, to manage the customer experience.

‘Each prototype of the Capricorn 01 Zagato allows us to deepen the relationship between design, engineering and driver – and to validate our decisions under real conditions before production begins later this year,’ says Robertino Wild, CEO of Capricorn.

CapricornGroup.net, @CapricornGroup.official, Zagato.it, @Zagato1919, Louyet.com, @LouyetGroup