Maserati unveiled its MC12 successor today after we got an early glimpse of it yesterday. Called the MC20—”20" is for “2020,” as in the year—the MC20 makes 630 horsepower and can get to 100 kph in under 3 seconds, Maserati claims. To my eye, at least, it is all just enough without being too much.
The mid-engined car comes in a little heavy at just over 3,300 pounds curb weight, though Maser says its power-to-weight ratio is still “best-in-class,” which I would think would is somewhere in between cars like the Porsche 718 Cayman and the Lamburghini Huracan.
It’s powered by a twinturbo V6 that Maserati is calling Nettunno, the first 100-percent in-house designed and built engine in Maser’s history. That will run power through an 8-gear dual-clutch.
Crucially, Maserati says that the MC20 is “designed to enable coupé and convertible versions and for full electric power,” the electric version.
The interior seems unfussy, as far as supercars go:
Simplicity is also the keynote of the carbon fibre-clad central console, with just a few features: the wireless smartphone charger, the driving mode selector (GT, Wet, Sport, Corsa and a fifth, ESC Off, which deactivates the control functions), two speed selection buttons, the power window controls, the Multimedia System controls, and a handy storage compartment underneath the armrest. All the other controls are on the steering wheel, with the ignition button on the left and the launch control on the right.
You can order the car now but don’t expect a delivery until next year. Maserati also didn’t release pricing, but obviously it won’t be cheap. I wouldn’t expect an electric version of this sooner than 2022 but that isn’t really the point of this car. The point, of course, is an attempt to change the conversation about what Maserati is as a brand—”enter the new Era,” as Maserati puts it—and if it doesn’t do that it’ll be because we’re past peak Italian mid-engine gas-powered sports car. Still, this feels like a worthy try.
