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Marchionne: Maserati to ‘switch all of its portfolio to electrification’  

After 2019, all Maseratis will be electrified, according to FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne. It's part of a larger electrification strategy from FCA as a whole, which intends to have half of its fleet electrified by the end of its five-year plan through 2022, Marchionne said. On an earnings call last week, he said: I'll give you a couple of broad sort of indications of where we are today in terms of the delineation of the post 2018 FCA. The first one and I've mentioned this in passing and other occasions about the fact that there's nothing that will prevent an OEM from engaging in the type of development work that Tesla has done so far. We have been – as you well know, we have been reluctant to embrace that avenue until we saw a clear – a path forward. I think we're now in a position to acknowledge at least one of our brands and in particular Maserati will, when it completes the development of its next two models effectively switch all of its portfolio to electrification. It's especially significant because of FCA's feet-dragging when it comes to offering hybrid and electric vehicles. As it currently stands, Fiat offers the 500e ­– of which Sergio Marchionne has said "I hope you don't buy it" because the company loses money on them — and Chrysler offers the Pacifica Hybrid minivan, which experienced significant launch delays. While diesel is an important part of the emissions strategy for 2020 standards in Europe, Marchionne said he thinks the current situation leaves diesel in a "weaker state" as a solution. Hence the electrification push. He said, "I think what has really made the issue absolutely mandatory now is the fate of diesel and the fact that it's actually the inclusion of, especially in Europe, of some type of electrification on gas engines is inevitable." In the short term, at least, it will put pressure on prices. Though Marchionne said he's "encouraged" by the direction of battery costs, he said, "I still think that there's going to be a huge increase in prices in 2021, 2022. If effectively the electrification becomes as widespread as people expect, there has to be a shift in pricing." He also says that FCA has no intention of making its own batteries. "Given the level of knowledge and depth of that knowledge that sits with other people in the industry, what right do I have to enter that space? None." We already know what the first two plug-in vehicles from Maserati will likely be. The company plans to launch an all-electric Alfieri in 2020.

Subaru ice driving and Mercedes-AMG G 63 | Autoblog Podcast #571

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Green Editor John Beltz Snyder. They kick things off by talking about the cars they've been driving: the 2019 Mercedes-AMG G63 and Autoblog's long-term Kia Stinger. Then they discuss hooning the Subaru BRZ, WRX and WRX STI on ice at the Subaru Winter Experience. Then they talk news, specifically Amazon investing $700 million in EV startup Rivian, and Maserati finally launching the Alfieri. Finally they help spend a listener's money on a new, green car. Autoblog Podcast #571 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Driving the 2019 Mercedes-AMG G63 Long-term Kia Stinger update Subaru Winter Experience Amazon invests in Rivian Maserati Alfieri on its way Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video:

Maserati teases MC20 Cielo debut for May 25

A while back, Maserati's product roadmap penciled in an MC20 Spider to hit the market this year. In December 2021, the Modena automaker teased frontal views of the droptop supercar wearing camouflage full of fluffy clouds. In a series of Instagram posts over the last week, Maserati posted photos from the point of view of someone with an uninterrupted view skyward — the same kind of view one would experience in a convertible, say. One of the captions was, "You will admire the sky in a new way on Wednesday 25 May." That will be the reveal date for what the automaker is now calling the Maserati MC20 Cielo, with that last word being Italian for "sky." This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Since we got no views of the rear of the camouflaged car, we have no idea what design changes we'll see in a little more than a week. Looking closely at the photos of the camouflaged prototype, it's clear there's are temporary panels between behind the B-pillar all the way to the decklid spoiler. An odd feature on the prototype is a trio of ribs running from the A-pillar to the rear of the car, with the middle protrusion looking like a papered-over roof scoop. That seems like a lot of work to hide a form we're already familiar with, and a convertible mechanism we don't expect to hold any surprises, so we'll see what we see on May 25. Maserati's usual Spider formula hasn't traditionally altered a car's underpinnings, so the same carbon fiber monocoque should come bolted to the same 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged V6 making 621 horsepower and 538 pound-feet of torque. The skylight does traditionally jack up the price, so expect to pay more than the coupe's $210,000 MSRP. We figure the model will arrive in showrooms late this year at the earliest, an appearance in the U.S. likely in 2023. After this, we know there's an even more powerful electric version on the way that will be the flagship of the range. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Maserati MC20 supercar plays in the snow