All-electric sports cars? This is very thin ice, which so far only Porsche has dared to tread with the Taycan. And even if its sales are going well, there are no great emotions. Porsche? That is and will always be the 911 with a combustion engine. The Taycan's insane acceleration values of just 2.6 seconds don't help either. The sterile sound and the limitation of the top speed to 260 km/h - despite 761 hp - make the all-electric four-door not exactly the favorite of performance drivers.
Other sports car manufacturers took their time and observed the developments at Porsche with skepticism. Now the first Maserati dares to come out of cover. After two years of announcements and tired 48-volt hybrid models, the first electric trident is here. Like all future electric cars of the brand, it bears the suffix Folgore, which means lightning in German. Although the new Grecale SUV was also ready for series production, the Italians preferred the sporty GranTurismo to become the first all-electric Maserati. An interesting move, as the Grecale Folgore definitely has what it takes to make larger volumes. At the same time, it is an acid test for the GranTurismo, which has to prove itself as a real sports car.
Technically he should be able to. Maserati, chosen to be the electric spearhead in the Stellantis Group, was able to go all out with the development - no old platform that had to be electrified, but only the task that the developed solutions could be applied to other models (besides the Grecale, the next one is also waiting the MC20 supercar to the electric transition) and other brands would be applicable. And so the engineers donated three electric motors to the GranTurismo Folgore – one on the front axle, two at the rear. The rear axle solution ensures that the torque distribution between left and right can be tuned even more finely, i.e. even more sportily and dynamically. Above all, the power of the engines adds up, which nominally together achieve over 1,200 hp.
In fact, the driver only has 760 hp available - exactly as much as the most powerful Taycan, the Turbo S. The electric motors are controlled with silicon carbide inverters, which are otherwise only common in Formula E, and have an exceptionally high power density . This also requires an extraordinary battery concept. The fact that Maserati uses 800-volt technology is befitting. The batteries and their arrangement are more innovative. With a total capacity of 92.5 kilowatt hours (of which 83 kilowatt hours can actually be used), they are at the top end in terms of performance. But it is above all the arrangement as a T-bone around the center console that ensures that the vehicle's center of gravity is optimized and the vehicle height is not burdened. At 1.35 meters high, the GranTurismo is flat, as is typical of a sports car.
When it comes to range, however, Maserati is still covered. It should be more than 450 kilometers with a civil driving style. The Italians are happy to come out with the driving performance: The GranTurismo Folgore reaches a top speed of 320 km/h, which makes it the fastest electric series vehicle of the present. With a sprint ability of 2.7 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h, it reveals another secret: despite the fat battery pack, the engineers managed to keep the weight more or less in check. Although Maserati only speaks of a permissible total weight of 2.26 tons, this means that the GranTurismo Folgore weighs around two tons. That's not exactly little, but other electric vehicles turn out to be significantly heavier. This is made possible, among other things, by the use of aluminum and magnesium alloys for large parts of the body.
The other two GranTurismo versions, which start in the slipstream of the electric model, also benefit from this design. They use the Nettuno V6 combustion engine as the drive source - the unit that is used in the MC20 and that is characterized by the pre-chamber ignition. In the Modena model version, the 3.0-liter engine delivers 490 hp, in the sporty Trofeo 550 hp. They can reach top speeds of 302 and 320 km/h and accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.9 and 3.5 seconds. With these values, they also underpin the ranking in the GranTurismo program: the top model is the all-electric Folgore. Prices are not yet available for all three versions. A common feature debuting in all three versions is the Vehicle Domain Control Module (VDCM). It is a new control system that connects all electrical and electronic components and is said to work much faster than previous solutions.
As innovative as the on-board electronics may be, the design of the new GranTurismo is very classic. One almost has the impression that the lines presented in 2007 and drawn by Pininfarina at the time had only been further developed. There is also space for four people. In any case, the design is convincing again this time with a long, GT-typical front hood and reduced lines. A bit of "retro" can also be in a modern sports car.
