Maserati’s ambitious revival plans revealed
A €2.5bn revival plan involves more electrification and more SUVs, but also more of the sportier cars that built the Maserati legend.
First comes the thunder, then the lightning. After the bombast of the MC20 supercar’s reveal, now we see the full scope and ambition of Maserati’s re-re-re-rebirth plan. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles – soon to be positioned under one roof with PSA in a new holding group known as Stellantis – has committed itself to investing €2.5bn in what may well be the last attempt to make Maserati into a luxury performance brand fit to take on Audi, BMW and Mercedes.
First up, the MC20. Designed by a young team led by FCA design boss Klaus Busse, the sleek two-seater doesn’t share a single nut or bolt with a Ferrari (but perhaps takes a few from the stillborn mid-engined Alfa 8C project).
It’s an ambitious, high-tech flagship for new-era Maser, available with a choice of power: pure battery electric or petrol, via an innovative V6 that cribs combustion technology from Formula 1. The MC20’s lightweight carbonfibre structure will also form the basis of a racing version, marking Maserati’s return to international motorsport. An open-air Spyder will follow, too.
Next up, a second SUV named Grecale, which sits below the Levante and is due out next year. Essentially a re-engineered and rebodied Alfa Stelvio, it will share the same assembly line. Grecale sales are expected to peak at over 30,000 units per year, and according to Gianmarco Cappellano, the man in charge of Maserati’s SUV product planning, the plant has been subject to an €800m development ‘to be brought up to Maserati’s standard’.
CEO Davide Grasso has the uphill task of improving eciency without damaging the brand. As part of a huge group, Maserati could draw on all manner of shared ideas, hardware and production lines, but getting the balance right will be tricky. Too much ⊲
‘Quattroporte and Ghibli are cannibalising each other’ Mike Manley
commonality with other brands, and customers will wonder why they’re being asked to pay so much for a posh Alfa Romeo; too little and the production costs could be crippling.
Out will go the expensive Ferrari-built V8 engine. It’s loved by the fans, but financial logic says Maserati must follow a similar path to Audi, BMW and Mercedes, where the eight-cylinder is also on borrowed time. So the flagship engine will be Nettuno V6 introduced by the MC20, with Maserati’s current V6 swapped for a four-cylinder with either mild hybrid or plug-in hybrid assistance. Insiders say the 16kWh battery and 48-volt back-up pack bring peak outputs to 415bhp and 413lb ft, thereby providing plenty of on-demand boost and up to 30 miles of clean-air range.
Before his death, FCA boss Sergio Marchionne had planned to replace both the GranTurismo and GranCabrio with the all-electric Alfieri, which was shown in 2014 as a design exercise. But the new regime seems to prefer a roomier 2+2-seater and, in the short term, a combustion engine to complement the three electrified options. In the course of the MC20 launch event, Maserati briefly showed the new GranTurismo coupe, disguised by the thinnest of covers. The sporty silhouette suggests an even longer wheelbase, big wheels and muscular wings. While the EV version of the fixed-head coupe should arrive in early 2022, the convertible and the beefed-up 558bhp V6 are due in spring 2023.
Also in 2023, the zero-emissions version of the Grecale arrives to take on the BMW iX3, Audi Q4 e-Tron and Mercedes EQC, wearing the new Folgore badge that will mark Maserati’s battery-electric cars.
The Ghibli and Quattroporte are expected to be merged into one new saloon from late 2023, too. FCA chief Mike Manley summed up why: ‘Ghibli and Quattroporte are to an extent cannibalising each other, the Ghibli is not suciently profitable, and we don’t really need two saloons in a down market which is craving SUVs.’ Before that happens, Maserati is keeping the
Ghibli range ticking over with a mild hybrid four-cylinder powertrain and old-school goodies like the totally analogue, loud-voiced Ghibli Trofeo, a limited-edition packing 572bhp.
The chief product planner, Alessio Barausse, expects SUVs to account for 70 per cent of the sales volume by 2025. That means 25 per cent of Maserati sales will by then be saloons, if FCA’s estimates play out as expected, with sports cars falling to a token five per cent. For a brand built at least in part on sports cars, this raises some tricky questions about overall viability, return on investment and what the brand stands for.
Although €2.5bn is a lot of dough, that would typically fund two big-selling products such as the A4 and A6 for Audi. In Maser’s case however, we’re talking six different EVs, two brand-new engines and eight body styles – and that’s a combination that may on aggregate struggle to turn a big, fat profit at an annual combined output of only 75,000 units. Only time will tell if the Trident can weather the storm it’s about to create for itself.