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Maserati GranTurismo Folgore teases itself around Monterrey

Maserati began teasing the GranTurismo Folgore toward the end of Car Week on Twitter and Instagram with a caption that read, "A rose gold wrap suited to the Golden Coast. Impossible to keep it secret. We’re touring California with the new GranTurismo Folgore and an audacious Italian-American entertainer. The air is electric. Keep following us down this road." Maserati seems to have meant the line about not keeping secrets more literally than one would expect, because it nonchalantly parked an uncamouflaged car in the same rose gold wrap at a charging station on the Monterey peninsula before the teases began. It had been thought that the automaker might debut the coupe over the weekend, which could have happened. Autocar says the Italians hosted a private preview for potential customers — that, apparently, was the secret.  This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Maserati teased a different prototype draped in a blue wrap earlier this year before the Formula E grand prix in Rome. This version, with its Homeric rosy hue and quasi-three-spoke wheels is what we've been waiting for. We like what we see. Yes, it's highly reminiscent of the GranTurismo that went off the market in 2019. Why should that bother us? That coupe is still beautiful. From what we can tell of the Folgore, the updated lines should make the coming EV even more so. Guests at that putative private event might know what powers the 2+2, but we don't. We know the battery-electric Grecale crossover will get an EV powertrain with 590 horsepower, the much more expensive GranTurismo should handily outdo that even if it doesn't touch the 1,200-hp figure some believe possible. We expect to get that info when the official debut happens in the coming months. The official GranTurismo Folgore launch is scheduled for next year, probably joined sometime in the year by its droptop sibling, the GranCabrio Folgore. It's thought there will be an ICE-powered version for the two-door as well, maybe offering the choice of an unaided 3.0-liter Nettuno V6 or a hybrid centered around the V6 or a 2.0-liter four-cylinder. Certain markets sell the Ghibli sedan with a 2.0-liter hybrid; however, that option is viewed as a long shot for the new GranTurismo.  Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Maserati CEO says new Alfieri will finally make Geneva in 2020

Maserati's long-delayed Alfieri will be shown at Geneva a year from now, says company CEO Harald Wester. The Alfieri will be the model to replace the GranTurismo coupe, the production of which is expected to end later this year as Maserati's Modena plant is overhauled and retooled for the new car. Autocar reports that Wester placed the Alfieri's reveal for Geneva 2020, but that series production will not begin until 2021-2022. Earlier reports had timed the Alfieri pre-production to begin in early 2020, in time for Geneva. The Maserati lineup will be significantly updated in the near future, and will feature extensive electrification, from mild hybrids to fully electric vehicles. "Any product we touch or make will have significant electrification," Wester told Autocar. "The main launches for new products are in 2021-22, and by the end of 2022 we will have a completely new range. For each and every lineup, we will have a full battery electric version. Not only that but at least one." Future models will also include updated versions of Ghibli, Quattroporte and Levante. The Alfieri was originally shown as a concept in 2014, but the delays have forced the 2008-introduced GranTurismo to soldier on. When the Alfieri finally comes, however, it will do so as a PHEV, a mild hybrid and a full electric version. Maserati is also adamant it will build electrified sports cars profitably. "Maserati is one of the few brands who can sell cars at the cost and reality of the technology and still make money," said Wester. Related Video:

The Maserati Bora turns 50. It was 'the thinking man's exotic'

The Maserati Bora made its debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1971, meaning the V8-powered supercar from Modena has just turned 50 years old. It arrived at a time when the Italian sports car manufacturers were undergoing a paradigm shift to the mid-engined layout that defines the modern supercar. The Bora (not to be confused with the VW sedan we knew as the fourth-generation Jetta) was named after a winter wind that blows from the Alps to the Adriatic Sea. Though it holds the distinction of being the first Maserati to employ the mid-engine configuration, it was a bit of a latecomer, following on the heels of Lamborghini's 1966 Miura, De Tomaso's 1964 Vallelunga and Ferrari's 1967 Dino 206 GT. However, it was a dramatic departure from the curvaceous designs of the 1960s. Skinned in an avant-garde wedge penned by legendary designer Giorgetto Giugiaro of Italdesign, the Bora was like a concept car come to life. Its most distinguishing characteristic, the unpainted A-pillars and roof, were polished stainless steel, a preview of Giugiaro's DeLorean that would not arrive for another decade. Any resemblance to De Tomaso's Mangusta was probably a coincidence (or the fact that it too was a Giugiaro design). The Bora's massive rear glass area showed off its aluminum twin-cam V8, nestled in a racecar-like steel-tube subframe. Motors came as either a high-revving 4.7-liter unit good for 310 horsepower and 325 pound-feet, or a torquier 4.9-liter producing 320 hp and 355 lb-ft. Delivered through a smooth-shifting ZF five-speed, it carried the car from 0-60 in a reported 6.6 seconds, and onward to a top speed of 174 mph. The Bora modernized Maserati, offering a four-wheel independent suspension for the first time behind the Trident badge. The Bora was considered more liveable than a Countach, thanks to features like double-paned glass between the cabin and engine compartment, a carpeted engine cover, and adjustable pedal box. Though overshadowed by its contemporaries from Maranello and Sant'Agata Bolognese, the Bora was considered the thinking man's exotic. As evidence of its decidedly un-basic following it was even cited in 1984's The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, describing the evil Dr. Emilio Lizardo's escape from imprisonment: "Last night he kills a guard, breaks out of Trenton Home for the Criminally Insane. Ten minutes later, he cops a Maserati Bora.