Maserati Unleashes MC20 and EV Power in New GranTurismo

Chris Teague
by Chris Teague

Maserati’s a strange beast for Americans. It’s not quite as well-known as Ferrari, and when most people want to buy a high-powered Euro sports sedan or coupe, they head to BMW, Audi, or Mercedes. The brand is expanding, though, with vehicles in new segments, such as the Grecale compact SUV and MC20 supercar. One of its long-running models got a significant overhaul for 2023, which brought a more powerful twin-turbo V6 and an electric powertrain to the GranTurismo for the first time.


The 2023 GranTurismo comes in three trims: Modena, Trofeo, and Folgore. Maserati modified the powertrain from its new halo car, the MC20, for the new model. In the Modena trim, the engine makes 490 horsepower and 443 lb-ft of torque, but the top gas-powered Trofeo trim gets a version making 550 horsepower and 479 lb-ft of torque. An eight-speed automatic transmission sends power to all four wheels – a GranTurismo first.


Though it’s a grand tourer and not a ferocious supercar, the GranTurismo is quicker than anyone needs. The Modena trim clocks a 3.9-second run to 62 mph from a standstill, and the Trofeo does it in just 3.5 seconds. Impressive, yes, but not everyone is ready to sign up for a new gas car right now. 


For those people, Maserati offers the GranTurismo Fulgore, a fully electric GT car with 751 horsepower and 996 lb-ft of torque. Those numbers wouldn’t look terribly out of place on a heavy-duty pickup truck meant for towing, but here they help the GranTurismo deliver a 2.7-second 0-62 mph time. The almost 5,000-pound car features unique battery placement, with the unit installed in the transmission tunnel and trunk. 


[Image: Maserati]


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Chris Teague
Chris Teague

Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.

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  • 95_SC 95_SC on Oct 04, 2022

    I’m not sure putting the battery in the trans tunnel and the back is unique. Pretty much every model that isn’t exclusively an EV puts the batteries where the ICE components the electric version doesn’t have normally go. Pretty car though.


  • Bunkie Bunkie on Oct 04, 2022

    From the “you can’t make this stuff up” department, the headline of the ad that occupied the screen right next to the picture of this Maserati read “Blunder #11”


    It’s an in joke in my household as my wife keeps getting offers from one of her financial institutions to lease a Maserati, an offer that is, consistently, declined.

  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
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