Forget what you know about Maserati. Having recently launched its first supercar in 15 years, ushered in hybrid options for its biggest-selling models and shown off the crucial new Grecale SUV, the brand will now shift focus to a rapid electrification push which will see it launch its final combustion car by 2025.
That would be a landmark move for any car manufacturer, but for 107-year-old Maserati – so steeped in motorsport heritage and so intrinsically associated with the guttural roar of an atmo V8 – it's nothing less than all-out reinvention. For Klaus Busse, vice president of design for parent company Stellantis, it's an opportunity to reimagine the brand's image completely.
We caught up with Busse as he unwrapped the Grecale to hear how he created an all-new proposition for Maserati, and get some clues to what's coming next as the brand electrifies.
How did you differentiate the Maserat Grecale from the Maserati Levante?
“We have, with the Levante, Maserati Ghibli and Maserati Quattroporte, one family of cars in terms of design, and the design DNA [of Grecale] was created about three and a half years ago when we started with Grecale and the MC20, because we wanted to create a new chapter for Maserati. The MC20 was such an important new milestone, it deserved a step forward in the design.
“The second step was then to apply the design of the MC20 to the Grecale, and through that process you automatically get that differentiation, because the Levante is a much more horizontal design. We were able to purify the car even more; the Ghibli, Quattroporte and Levante all have more line work on the body, and we were able to work with the engineers to get more sculpture in the car, take off more lines and focus on the body itself.”
Which elements will we see on future Maseratis?
“There are some very visual things: there’s the face which you have seen on the MC20 – it has the same lighting signature, the low mouth and high-mounted lights. This is the new face of Maserati with MC20, Grecale and also – we’ve revealed – with the Granturismo. The philosophy of driving purity to the maximum, while at the same time on the lower part of the car allowing the engineers to express functionality and performance was important because when we created this design DNA, we looked into society as a context: where are we, and where is society heading?
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As part of Fiat, electrical problems are more typical than in other manufacturers. Will electrical problems of Maserati increase, since all the systems are electric?
As part of Fiat, electricak problems are more typical than in other manufacturers. Will electrical problems of Maserati increase, since all the systems are electric?