Luxury in any language
Maserati Grecale Folgore delivers performance with distinguished presence
Tribune News Service
You might not know what to expect from the 2024 Maserati Grecale Folgore, its first battery electric
SUV, unless you know what its name translates to. Grecale means Greece, Folgore means lighting. Is the 110-year-old Italian automaker secretly trying to tell us something?
Maserati is the top luxury brand in Stellantis’ grab bag of automakers. As such, it’s being revitalized with a host of new products. By this time next year, it will offer a battery electric variant of every Maserati under the Folgore name. By 2028, when a new Maserati Quattroporte is due, the brand intends to be fully electric.
The strategy comes as Maserati realigned its business strategy a couple of years ago. Having once produced more models than sales warranted, and then resorting to move the metal with cheap leases and incentives, Maserati has since changed course, limiting production and raising prices in effort to reinstate its proper luxury status in the market.
The change in attitude came with the release of the MC20 in 2020, a limited-edition mid-engine supercar meant to take on the world’s finest.
The automaker has since stuck to its playbook despite releasing vehicles like Grecale, which is meant to be its mainstream offering. Nonetheless, mainstream has a different meaning at Maserati: The Grecale starts at $68,500, and the new Grecale Folgore EV is expected to top $100,000.
The 2024 Maserati Grecale Folgore, like its fossil-fuel-powered Grecale SUV stablemates, is built using Stellantis’ Giorgio architecture that underpins the Alfa Romeo Giulia sedan and Stelvio SUV. But the engineers had to accommodate the Grecale Folgare’s 105-kwh battery pack, so it lowered the Grecale’s floorpan by 1.6 inches, causing some loss in ground clearance, although it’s still sufficient for most tasks, at 6.7 inches.
And those cells produce 550 horsepower and 605 pound-feet of torque, enough to move this mass of metal to 60 mph in about four seconds. Top speed is 137 mph. Power comes on smooth and strong, much like a petrol-powered Grecale. Thankfully, engineers resisted the temptation to endow it with the excessive torque punch typical of too many SUVS. As a result, it feels for more substantial and less juvenile than other EVS.
Range is rated at 311 miles, but that’s according to the optimistic European WLTP rating, not the EPA’S, which hasn’t been released. Don’t be surprised if the range is actually closer to 250 miles. Blame the lack of range on the Maserati Grecale
Folgore’s fancy footwear, which consists of grippy 21-inch Pirelli P-zeros, rather than the Ev-friendly rubber typically used to extract miles at the expense of traction.
Why? This EV wears the famous trident badge, and there are certain performance expectations that come with it.
Like noise. Maserati models typically sing a cylinder-fed symphony made of an exhaust note that make anyone weak in the knees. But EVS are silent as there’s no controlled explosion, as there is in a petrol-filled vehicle. So, there’s an artificial noise generated inside and out to help mask the powertrain’s true nature. Such fakery is an anathema, particularly because it can’t be shut off or turned down. But it does serve as aural ear candy that links the present to the past.
But Maserati has done much to
make this puppy perform, placing air shocks at each corner that adjust along with the driveline through its GT, Sport, Offroad, and Max Range driving modes. Like other Grecales, the Grecale Folgore employs a front double wishbone and a rear multilink suspension. It makes for one athletic Italian.
Once the road twists and turns, the Grecale Folgore handles it admirably. It’s well-mannered, with very little body movement and minor body lean. It’s a Maserati, after all, although some might find the softest GT setting a little too stiff. But the battery pack’s additional weight inhibits the Grecale Folgore from hanging its tail out when cornering like the gas-powered Grecale Trofeo. But it gives the Grecale Folgore a low center of gravity and aids in bump absorption, which is far less noticeable than in other Grecale models.
Most observers will have a hard time distinguishing the Grecale Folgore from its siblings as there are few visual modifications. The Grecale Folgore has an updated rear-end because of the lack of an exhaust. Up front, there’s a more aerodynamic nose, a redesigned grille, portholes on the front fender with LED lighting and aerodynamic wheels.
Climb inside and you will find the transmission shifter is gone, its job now handled by pushbuttons. And the paddle shifters by the steering wheel do not shift the transmission. After all, it has one forward gear. Instead, it adjusts the amount of regenerative braking — that’s the amount of energy recovered during deceleration used to recharge the battery.
Other interior tech is top-notch. The instrument panel houses a 12.3inch infotainment touchscreen and an 8.8-inch touchscreen for other vehicle functions, such as climate control. Other features are wireless Apple Carplay and Android Auto, wireless charging, two simultaneous Bluetooth phone connections and an excellent 1,200-watt, 21-speaker Sonus Faber audio system.
Throw in sumptuous cabin finishes, and you have a uniquely favored EV that stands apart in an increasingly crowded part of the market.
If you’re looking for a luxury electric SUV that has the chops to perform and stands apart in a sea of Mercedes-benz EQS, BMW ixs and Audi Q8 e-trons, Maserati has your sumptuous automotive gelato.