We have a responsibility to create something truly desirable and collectible that will stand the test of time.”
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Evoking
A Legacy Structure Turns Cars Into Sculptures
Prior to 1940, Maserati built race cars with a traditional cigar-shaped chassis (the internal skeleton of the car) atop exposed wheels—a standard structure in early Formula-1 (F1) racing.
When Maserati’s designers branched out to road cars, they took that F1-style framework and gave it a passenger-car dressing, covering the wheels and adding lights to meet road-legal standards. It became the brand’s “north star product,” says Busse: The first GranTurismo Maserati.
“We deal with different underlying technology today but work hard to model our cars around this idea of
keeping the central fuselage intact, giving them these dramatic shape deltas that create reflection and excitement on the surface,” says Busse. Without these golden ratios, brands often resort to artificial decorative elements to stand out, he says. “We don't have to do that because we’ve been constructing our cars the same way for 76 years.”This approach is reflected in today’s GranTurismo, which Busse says honors its race car origins. “The new GranTurismo has this very sleek, low-center line and this front mid-engine with F1 technology. It really connects to our roots of combining motorsports with long-distance comfort.”
Grecale
The compact crossover SUV pairs luxury with everyday versatility
A Formula Fuels Dazzling Driveability
What car can comfortably take you on a 2,000-mile road trip and do what Busse calls a “hot lap” around Germany’s Nürburgring performance track, as if both settings were its natural habitat?This versatility draws from a key concept in automotive history called gran turismo or “grand touring.” Don’t confuse it with Maserati’s model of the same name, says Busse. “Gran turismo is also a bigger idea, a car classification,” that describes a masterful pairing of comfort and space with elite performance, allowing a car to adapt with surprising ease across environments and lifestyles. “I’d say it’s our secret formula,” says Busse. “There aren’t many brands that embrace gran turismo in every model they make.”Take the MC20 and its convertible twin, the MC20 Cielo: They’re both fierce, feather-light and fit for both the road and the track, while still prioritizing performance, driveability and long-distance comfort.Then there’s the roomy Grecale SUV, with its functional interior featuring 33’’ of display surfaces, a push-button gear shifter and natural materials like open-pore wood and hand-stitched leather—that still hits a thunderous 177 mph.
Before the invention of the gran turismo concept 75 years ago, a customer basically had to decide between a race car and a car for the road ... Gran turismo brought these two worlds of performance and luxury together.”
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Grecale interiorInside the Grecale, you'll find best-in-class cabin space, a cutting-edge digital interface with customizable controls and a stunning sound balance.
Embracing
Maserati was born racing, and you can’t win a race if you look in the rearview mirror.”
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Hunger For Change Shapes Fresh Models
Many luxury carmakers hold a steady course, but Maserati's evolution is more striking than it is subtle.
Journey through its decades and Busse says you’ll notice “dramatic change” instead of “gentle progression” in style and geometrics: elegant, pure shapes in the ‘50s and ‘60s, mid-engine wedge contours in the ‘70s and the ‘90s’ brutalist aesthetics morphing into romantic curves in the 2000s.
The MC20 represents this restlessness. It’s the brand’s first car with butterfly doors and a carbon fiber monocoque, a type of chassis that’s lighter than a steel frame, providing an aerodynamic shape and sleek lines. “We did something fresh. The MC20 started from a white sheet of paper,” says Busse. “It’ll live on the road and in a city environment. It’s a rolling sculpture.”
Electrifying Speed Pairs With Eye-Popping Patterns
Knowing when to change is just as important as reinvention itself, Busse says. Instead of racing to be first with electric engines, “we waited for electrification technology to be ready for Maserati—to use it as the next step in our performance.” The brand recently announced that all models will be available in full-electric versions by 2025, with its entire fleet transitioning to electric power by 2028.Maserati currently has two EVs on the market, the GranTurismo Folgore and the Grecale Folgore (folgore, which means “lightning,” is Maserati’s label for its all-electric cars). The models deliver thrilling speeds with 800- and 400-volt batteries, respectively—placed in their central spine to minimize drag and lower their center of gravity. The result? The GranTurismo Folgore strikes even faster than its gas-powered sibling, flashing from 0–60 mph in 2.7 seconds.With Maserati’s foray into electric cars in 2021, Busse’s team was eager to experiment. “We strategized how to express electrification in the interior cabin,” he says. “We still offer expected materials like leather, but this was our moment to push the envelope.”The Folgore cars feature a luxuriously smooth material called Econyl on seats and door panels. It’s a “fantastic, futuristic, silk-like” recycled nylon with elaborate parametric motifs laser-etched into the fabric, explains Busse. “The metamorphosis patterns are so complex and very difficult to create. Econyl isn’t new in the luxury world, but we’re the first to put it in a vehicle—which comes from our appetite to do something special.”
Patented Tech & Exquisite Design Harmonize
Even as Maserati embraces its electrification era, it continues to test the limits of traditional horsepower. Its latest in-house engine technology—the F1-inspired Nettuno V6—is a 3.0 liter, 6-cylinder twin-turbocharged engine that delivers 621 hp and sings at a max speed of 202 mph.
The highlight of the Nettuno V6 is its prechamber combustion system featuring twin spark plugs, which Maserati says achieves a “faster, more uniform and efficient combustion.” Busse agrees the patented tech is an engineering marvel: “Every time you think, ‘How much better can a car get?’ our engineers come out with a milestone like the Nettuno V6.”
Maserati calls the V6 the “beating heart” of the MC20, which despite its engine’s heft and power output weighs a lithe 1,500 kg thanks to that lightweight carbon fiber chassis. The result is an industry-leading weight-to-power ratio that doesn’t sacrifice luxury or ergonomics—proof that magic happens when Maserati’s designers and engineers combine their prowess.
“Our collaboration is about creating the perfect performance behavior of the car that we then get to dress,” Busse says. “As a designer, you need a fundamental understanding of how a car works. Our engineers have an equally mutual respect for what it takes to make a car beautiful. This balance helps infuse innovation into every fiber of our products.”
As a designer, you
need a fundamental understanding of how a car works. Our engineers have an equally mutual respect for what it takes to make a car beautiful.”
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Hear the Nettuno V6 engine
The super sports car that pushes the boundaries of time
mc20
MC20 Cielo
The convertible twin of the MC20 super sports car
GranTurismo
The all-new masterpiece brings racetrack innovation to the road
“Parametric design enabled this unique type of pattern,” says Busse, whose team uses laser technology to imprint an intricate motif onto the Econyl material.