Maserati is starting to enact its most ambitious revival plan yet, with billions of euros of investment, a model line-up overhaul and a target to nearly triple its sales in less than three years.
The Italian brand’s new dawn will be spearheaded by an all-new, in-house-designed mid-engined “super-sports car” called the MC20, which is set to be revealed this September.
The big relaunch – one of many throughout Maserati’s history – was meant to begin in May with the MC20’s debut. That has been postponed due to the disruption caused by the coronavirus, but we still know a substantial amount about Maserati’s first supercar since the Ferrari Enzo-based MC12 homologation special of 2004.
UPDATE: The MC20 has now officially been unveiled - see it here.
It will be no watered-down Maranello model this time. In fact, the MC20’s very existence is permitted by the fact that Maserati parent company Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) sold its 90% stake in Ferrari back in 2016. Maserati was never allowed to tread on the toes of its Italian peer prior to this (the ultra-limited-run MC12 being the exception); now it has been allowed creative freedom to build a much-needed halo model. This will also be the car that enables Maserati to return to racing, the company has confirmed.
The MC20 marks a speedy departure from the previous plan, in place as late as last summer but revised under new management. The first new model was originally due to be dubbed the Alfieri: a two-seat electrified sports car offering plug-in hybrid and battery-electric propulsion options.
A rethink has resulted in a surprise about-turn, with the MC20 instead coming to market first with a mid-mounted combustion engine (with some form of electrification likely) and electric cars set to follow.
Autocar understands the price point for the MC20 will reach into the low six figures, but it will stay well clear of the £165,000 Ferrari Portofino.
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If only Alfa was as bold and
Maserati as Italian exotica
Maserati as Italian exotica playing third fiddle to Ferrari and Lamorghini doesn't make much sense.
Better sort out Alfa first, try to expand its woeful range of models.
triple sales
haven't we heard this somewhere before. quattroporte and levante sales are hardly exceptional and they want to do another quattro and an X4 rival. if FCA are so flush with cash why has the alfa GTV coupe been canned