Maserati's U.S. CEO Explains Ditching V-8s and Embracing a New Identity
The Ferrari V-8s and sedans will be take a bow to make way for Maserati's new V-6 and EV tech.
What is the first car you think about when you hear "Maserati"? If the Quattroporte or Ghibli came to the front of your mind then Maserati has a message for you: "We're more than just sedans." Over the last three years or so, Maserati has taken big steps to differentiate itself and reestablish its identity. The automaker completely changed up its engine partnership with Ferrari and developed its own "Nettuno" twin-turbo V-6 engine. The Nettuno already lives in some of the automaker's current offerings, but it doesn't want to just stop at the engine bay.
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Maserati USA CEO Bill Peffer sat down with us to talk about where the future of the brand is going and what its direction means for existing and future customers. Peffer sited that Maserati's transformation from a "sedan-based performance company" to a "purveyor of Luxury UVs and supercars" started in 2020 with the MC20. Peffer credits Maserati's 18-month turnaround as a benefit of being at "the tip of the spear" of its parent company Stellantis.
No Hybrids for Maserati
While some automakers are taking a phased approach to electrification by going from ICE to hybrid to BEV, don't expect Maserati to take that same path. "We decided—in the U.S. particularly—we didn't want to have a transitional technology, so we went full in with battery electric," said Peffer. Why would Maserati want to skip over hybrids and go straight to BEVs? Developing a hybrid system for the new models would be a third investment counting the Nettuno engine and Maserati's future EV platform according to Peffer. The automaker elected to skip the middle phase and focus its EV tech instead. In essence, the decision came down to saving time and money.
Maserati's EV Future
With hybrids off the table, what will Maserati's approach to BEVs be exactly? Completely new models? "We were bold enough to say in 2020, from MC20 the new cars we bring out will have a full battery electric version." The GranTurismo Folgore BEV is due in the U.S. market within "the next few months" from the time of this interview according to Peffer. The CEO also said that a BEV version of the Grecale SUV will hit the states by the end of 2023 or first quarter 2024. After the Grecale, the MC20 will be the next model to get the BEV treatment but Maserati is shy of announcing a window for that as the ICE super car continues to rapidly sell out with each model year.
Peffer said that Maserati was careful to develop a platform that can support ICE and EV so as not to "sully the design" that its customers are attracted to. That means rather than use the "skateboard" style chassis that other mainstream EVs employ, Maserati designed a "T" configuration for battery storage. In this set up, passengers sit on either side of a battery tunnel rather than sitting on top of them. This allowed the engineers to keep the mass centered and achieve 50/50 weight balance. Due to the T-shaped battery storage configuration, the GranTurismo Folgore sits only 3 millimeters higher than the ICE version.
A potential downside to this setup is less range than other mainstream EVs. Maserati estimates the GranTurismo Folgore will have 250 miles of range which is less than a base model Tesla Model 3. Obviously the tradeoff is that the Folgore will be much faster and subjectively much better looking. We are still talking about a luxury car after all. "There's not anybody who absolutely needs a Maserati for transportation," said Peffer. "We're not for everybody."
Oh, just in case you were wondering: we did ask if Maserati is looking to adopt Tesla's NACS charging port in 2025. "The infrastructure is a huge component of the adoption curve for electrification," said Peffer. "I'm not at liberty to say who exactly we've been in discussions with but that is one of the challenges that needs to be overcome."
2024 Is a Celebration of the V-8
With Maserati transitioning to its in-house Nettuno V-6 and EV power shortly after, 2024 will be the last year that the brand will offer models equipped with Ferrari-sourced V-8s. Though, Maserati plans to send them out in style. The 2024 Maserati Ghibli 334 Ultima will be among the final Ferrari V-8 models along with a special edition Levante. Both models are set to make their North American debut at Pebble Beach in August.
After those limited trims make their runs, Maserati will "sunset" the Ghibli, Levante, and Quattroporte "in their current configurations" according to Peffer. From, that point Maserati's lineup will consist of the Grecale, GranTurismo, and the MC20 in the halo car spot. Each car will eventually have a "Folgore" EV version which will serve as the top tier trim for each model. We did try to pull any hints about a future three-row SUV but Peffer remained tight lipped. Though, we still strongly believe a larger SUV is in the cards for Maserati.
With a Luxury SUV, sporty GT car, and supercar all with EV variants in its line up, Maserati is certainly coming a long way from being known as merely a Ferrari offshoot. The question remains how well received will Maserati's new direction be? How many buyers really want EVs from a niche Italian brand that is generally known for orchestral exhaust notes? That remains to be seen, but it can't be said that Maserati isn't taking risks.
Andrew Beckford’s passion for cars started as a middle schooler when his friend Richie explained how an internal combustion engine works. He was bitten by the bug and the rest, as they say, is history. He dug deep into the tuner scene and eventually wrote for Turbo Magazine, Import Tuner, Super Street. He covered car shows, feature builds, and reviewed racing games for those magazines in addition to covering motorsports including Formula Drift, Indy Car, and F1 for his personal blog. Eventually Beckford joined MotorTrend to cover the daily automotive news beat. Besides being a gearhead, Beckford has been a gamer since the ’80s and is a huge fan of the arcade racing games of the ’90s like Daytona USA, SEGA Rally, and Ridge Racer. Beckford’s a movie buff as well, especially comic book films from DC and Marvel. When car culture crosses over with gaming and entertainment, rest assured Beckford is aware of it. In addition to serving as a consultant on a “triple A” racing titles, he’s reviewed major racing games such as Forza Motorsport, Need for Speed, Gran Turismo, F1, and more. He’s also interviewed blockbuster directors including Steven Caple Jr. (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts) and Neill Blomkamp (Gran Turismo). His biggest profile to date was with Robert Downey Jr. on his love affair with cars and his show Downey’s Dream Cars on MAX. Beckford’s profile of Downey Jr. was the first print cover story written by an African American in MotorTrend’s history. Along with KJ Jones, Andrew Beckford also heads up MotorTrend’s celebration of Black History Month by spotlighting diverse voices in the automotive industry and motorsports. Beckford’s first car was a 1982 Nissan Stanza affectionately named “Stanley” by his late mother.
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