Maserati Gran Turismo to include an electric variant
This storied European car maker is about to release the latest version of its most popular – and beautiful – car. And there’s a wicked surprise under the bonnet.
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The all-new Maserati Gran Turismo has been a long time coming and it’s every bit as beautiful as the car it replaces.
Though production of the curvy coupe doesn’t begin until next year, and it won’t reach Australia until late 2023, the Italian brand has already unveiled the latest version of its most iconic model.
There’s much more to this two-door than its predictably gorgeous Italian design. The new Gran Turismo family also marks a major turn in Maserati’s long history.
At the top of the line-up is a battery-powered version. It’s Maserati’s first-ever EV but
it won’t be the last. The company plans to be producing only EVs by 2030.
The Gran Turismo EV is called Folgore. That’s Italian for lightning and the name will be used on all the company’s future EVs.
The electric Gran Turismo certainly lives up to the name. Its power and performance will shock the internal-combustion engined Modena and Trofeo variants.
And these will not be slow cars. Both are powered by the thundering Nettuno engine.
This Maserati-made twin-turbo 3.0-litre V6 is already used in the brand’s MC20 supercar and the top version of the Grecale SUV.
In the Modena version of the new Gran Turismo the Nettuno is tuned to deliver 360kW, in the Trofeo 405kW. Both come standard with an eight-speed automatic and all-wheel drive.
The previous Gran Turismo, discontinued back in 2019 after a lengthy 12-year production run, had a non-turbo V8 and rear-drive.
Maserati claims impressively snappy 0-100km/h acceleration times for the new petrol-powered Gran Turismos; 3.9 seconds for the Modena, 3.5 seconds for the Trofeo.
The Folgore takes just 2.7 seconds, a number sure to earn it a place among the acceleration elite.
Visual differences between the EV and the other models are minimal, inside and out. This is possible as the Gran Turismo Folgore’s battery pack isn’t a flat slab under the floor, as in most other EVs.
Instead it’s shaped to fit in the space occupied by the engine, transmission and exhaust
system of the petrol-burners. It’s wide at the front and then narrow enough to fit in the central transmission tunnel and Maserati engineers call it a “T-bone” design. This layout is the reason the Folgore can be as low and sleek as the other Gran Turismo models.
The T-bone battery pack is hefty. It can store about 90kWh, similar to other high-end EVs such as the Porsche Taycan, and enough for a driving range of 450km according to the WLTP test standard.
As with the Porsche Taycan and Hyundai Ioniq 5, the Maserati battery pack is 800-volt, double the EV norm. This brings benefits; when connected to a DC fast charger it can suck up current faster, at up to 270kW.
Maserati engineers claim the Gran Turismo Folgore has “the most powerful motors
on the market”. There are three of them: one for each of the rear wheels and
another for the front axle.
Though each can deliver a sustained 300kW, the battery pack simply can’t discharge fast enough to supply all three motors with maximum power current at once. The car’s maximum combined power output is therefore capped at 560kW, but this is enough to make the Gran Turismo Folgore lightning fast.
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