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Next-generation Maserati Gran Turismo, Gran Cabrio confirmed

The Maserati Gran Turismo will return for a second generation after all. The Italian automaker confirmed the on-again, off-again grand tourer as it presented its financial results to investors.  The Gran Turismo coupe and its convertible offshoot, the Gran Cabrio, were both included in the five-year plan parent company Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) presented in 2014. Their future began looking grim when they disappeared from the company's road map, according to Motor Authority. We know Maserati is busily working on another, more hardcore sports car inspired by the Alfieri concept, and odds are insiders worried releasing two similar models in the same price bracket would confuse buyers and torpedo both nameplates. The latest from Maserati's Modena, Italy, headquarters is that development of the next Gran Turismo is back on track. Additional details about the car remain under wraps, but Maserati's presentation noted every car it releases beginning in 2020 will be offered with a battery-electric powertrain. The current, 12-year old Gran Turismo (pictured) has been V8-only for its entire career, and we wouldn't be surprised to see the eight-cylinder return as an alternative powertrain for buyers who don't want an EV. Maserati has previously made it clear that it won't commit to an all-electric future. Maserati's product master plan pegs the next Gran Turismo's debut date at some point in 2021. Keep in mind the company isn't exactly known for timeliness. Even if we see the model during 2021, it's unlikely to appear in American showrooms until 2022 at the earliest. The Gran Cabrio will arrive the following year, so it will likely launch as a 2023 model. That means the current Gran Turismo and Gran Cabrio will likely remain in the firm's lineup for two or three additional years. The presentation reaffirms Maserati's commitment to finally becoming a full-line automaker. In 2020, it will give the Levante, the Ghibli, and the Quattroporte a mid-cycle refresh, and it will release the aforementioned production version of the Alfieri concept introduced way back in 2014. Then 2021 will bring a smaller SUV, and a convertible variant of the yet-unnamed Alfieri-inspired model. Finally, the Quattroporte and the Levante will be replaced in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Maserati will need to keep the Gran Turismo and the Alfieri in two distinctly separate segments.

Maserati MC20 supercar will debut in May then hit the race track

In the mid-2000s, Maserati was at the top of its game and at the top of performance car mountain with the Ferrari Enzo-based MC12. Today, Maserati isn't even in the foothills, let alone at the summit. The company is hoping to regain its credibility and status this year when it releases a new "super sports car" that we now know will be named MC20. We first caught a glimpse of the MC20, which is the spiritual successor to the MC12, in late 2019 via four murky photos of a camouflaged test mule. Judging by those photos, it seems the car will not look like any previous concept or model we've seen, which should help establish Maserati's insistence that 2020 marks the start of a new era for the company. However, test mules often have bodies and shapes that do not represent what the eventual production car will look like (the mid-engine Corvette started as this crazy Holden ute). Although it's alphanumeric, the name MC20 has some depth to it. MC stands for Maserati Corse, and 20 indicates the year 2020. But the MC12 wasn't released in 2012, so what's up? Maserati did this as a nod to its first race car, the Tipo 26, which was produced in 1926. Again, new era, back to its roots, etc.  The MC20 will have an all-new powertrain that has been developed and built by and for Maserati. It is unclear what type of powertrain the vehicle will launch with, but Maserati has confirmed the car will eventually be available as an "electrified version," just like every other Trident from here on out. A Ghibli PHEV is expected to kick things off when it arrives this spring, and we've already heard the sound Maserati's electric vehicles will make. As the MC indicates, Maserati plans to return to racing with the MC20, just as it did with the MC12. Following development in the Innovation Lab we recently featured, the MC20 will be built at the Viale Ciro Menotti plant in Modena, Italy.  The MC20 will debut at the end of May in Modena. More details to come. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Maserati returns to Indianapolis to commemorate historic win

This past weekend was Memorial Day weekend, folks, and you know what that means: racing. There was the Monaco Grand Prix for Formula One fans, and back Stateside there was the Indianapolis 500. You might expect to see a name like Maserati pop up at the former more than the latter, but that wasn't always the case.
These days its all about Dallara chassis powered by Chevy or Honda, but over the course of a century there have been plenty of foreign automakers that have won the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. McLaren won it twice in the 1970s, Mercedes and Peugoet won during the race's pre-WWI infancy, and in between them Boyle Racing won it two years in a row with a Maserati chassis and engine.
The car was the Maserati 8CTF "Boyle Special," and its first win came 75 years ago. So to mark the occasion (as well as Maserati's 100th anniversary), the car was brought back to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a revival lap. Unfortunately Wilbur Shaw, who won the Indy 500 three times (twice in the Maserati) and went on to be president of the speedway, died in a plane crash the day before his 52nd birthday in 1954. So in his place fellow three-time winner Johnny Rutherford took the wheel of the 8CTF in front of the gathered crowds.