Maserati confirms MC20 sports car
Italian premium brand Maserati has confirmed that it will build its rumoured MC20 sports car for production later this year.
Calling it a “natural evolution” of the track-dominant MC12 supercar, it insisted the MC20 would also take the brand back to the racetracks of the world.
The super sports car is the first model of the new Maserati Era and it will debut by the end of May in Modena.
Based around the carbon fibre tub of the Alfa-Romeo 4C, the MC20 will run V6 power and rear-wheel drive and should become the first all-new production Maserati in six years.
It began testing the MC20 prototype in November and it was a simple process, given Maserati’s Modena headquarters actually assembled the 4C on Alfa’s behalf.
It released a series of “mule” images designed to counter computer-generated speculation, with Maserati promising it would be powered by its new generation of Maserati-built engines.
Ferrari-built engines have powered Maseratis for nearly three decades, though the arrangement will end next year.
The MC20 will be the first car to receive its new generation of powerplants, designed to work with both mild- and plug-in hybrid electrification.
It poached technical boss
Roberto Fedeli (who has since been dragged back to FCA HQ) from BMW’s i programme specifically to lead Maserati towards electrification, and sources insist there are electric Maseratis on their way.
While it had been expected to be the production version of the gorgeous Alfieri concept car from 2014, the images suggest it’s a completely different machine. The Alfieri, promised for production by 2018, was a front-engined sports car with a small rear seat, yet the prototype MC20 is a mid-engined car. It is feasible, though, that the prototype is a development test bed for the new engine family.