When the whole world is changing, when manufacturers are electrifying their cars, and when people only want to buy SUV's,
brands like Maserati don't have a choice but to change as well. Their best-selling car is the Levante SUV and they're planning...
on releasing a smaller SUV. If you ask me, they've waited for a tad too long. Also, they still have the Ghibli, Quattroporte and GranTurismo.
That's right, that's still in production. However, they aren't what you'd call best-sellers. So, what did Maserati do? Release another SUV?
Maybe an electric car? Nope. They've just released a brand-new supercar, powered by a turbocharged V6. Producing 650 horsepower.
Alright then, Maserati, what's the deal? That doesn't seem logical to me. Well, they're going to relaunch the Maserati-brand.
Anticipating on the electrical- and SUV-future. However, Maserati started out as a racing brand back in the day, whilst it's more of a...
luxury-brand right now. Honoring that heritage, Maserati starts their relaunch with a sports car.
So this is the MC20. It's got a carbon monocoque and it's got a brand-new biturbo V6 in the back, which we'll look at in a few moments.
However, the interesting part is that it's going to be available as an electrical car as well. In 2022, a full EV-version will be released,
which will have four-wheel drive and electric motors on both axles. And that's when the pieces start to come together.
The electrical version is supposed to feel the same and have the same power output as this petrol version.
That way, there's a much better link between the past and the present. Despite it having completely new technology.
And right now I'm absolutely loving the look of it. It says MC20 on the sides, but I can see some styling cues from Noble,
or a Jaguar concept car. It's also bigger than you'd think judging by pictures. It's quite the appearance.
Maserati said they didn't want it to stand out too much, because that wouldn't be fitting for the brand.
That's why they've mounted the vents over here instead of the sides. Also, there's no big rear wing. They only put on a modest-looking...
diffuser, which ties the design together. Somewhere I think it resembles the Alfa Romeo 4C, even though it's bigger, but don't be fooled.
When I mentioned the name Alfa, the Maserati-people were very insulted. This car has nothing to do at all with the 4C, they say.
It's built entirely from the ground up.
We're going to drive it in a little while, both on track and on the public roads, but first let's talk some details.
The brand-new biturbo 3.0-litre V6 uses a very special combustion technology, which we've seen before in Formula 1.
There's a very small front-chamber, which combusts first. That pushes the mixture in the head-chamber, which gets ignited by the second spark...
plug. That means there's a better usage of space in the cylinders, and a much cleaner combustion.
It's also a very compact engine. There's only 12 millimetres between the cylinders.
If we look underneath the skin, we can see a carbon monocoque with aluminium extenders.
Right, we're underway, and there's always a downside to everything. Having said that, it's wet outside today.
Luckily, I drove a few dry laps on the track, but now it's wet. I can't put it any other way. That could be annoying when it's slippery...
or when it's raining hard, but I have to say that this MC20 is very capable in these conditions.
You notice that more often with Italian cars. In Ferrari's mostly. They're surprisingly soft, but when you take it onto a road in Italy,
everything comes together. They're always able to process all of the imperfections of a beat-up, rough Italian road.
Just like this car does with its double-wishbone suspension. Because of that, it's very usable on public roads.
A car like a GT3 is much harder and more difficult to drive on these tight and bad roads than this MC20. But I have to be honest here,
I like it better on the public roads than on a track. It was a very tight circuit, which I haven't visited before, and I was searching a little with this car.
And I find it very hard to really get to know this car in this first impression. It's a really new car, which doesn't really remind me of anything.
It's not like a small Ferrari or anything, it's a completely different kind of car. I do think it's got Italian flair though.
It's got personality and it feels alive. The steering is light, but very direct. Very Italian. However, it's not as direct as a Ferrari.
Ferrari is much more venomous, just like when it comes to throttle response. But the way this MC20 processes imperfections and such...
does feel very Ferrari-like. Maserati really does their own thing. If I were to sum it up, it reminds me of the Alfa Romeo 4C,
or the Alpine A110. And not when it comes to performance, but this is purely a vibe-thing.
It's very nimble, you can really feel the lightness in everything. So it's very agile. And the longer I'm driving it, the better I start to like it.
Right, the engine. Especially on the track, we were able to get it all out. It loves to rev, with maximum torque being available at 3.500 RPM.
For a turbocharged engine, that's quite late. It will keep producing that amount of torque until you reach 5.500 RPM,
but you're able to rev up to 8.500 RPM. That's when it starts to bite down in the higher revs. A result of the special engine technology.
The double clutch automatic gearbox is great. Nice and wild, a lot of soul in it. It might not be very refined all of the time,
but it sure is nice to use at lower speeds. At higher speeds, it sometimes kicks in pretty hard.
And that's a positive thing, because it then feels like something's actually happening in this car.
I love it. So let's talk about the interior then. It's clearly aimed towards the driver. I'm able to get in very easily because of the winged doors.
Despite the big side skirts and sills of the carbon monocoque. So that's all alright.
How about the steering? Well, it's very light. You might even think it's too easy to drive this car in the beginning.
But even when it's wet, the traction and turn-in are so incredibly good, I can do anything else but be positive about it.
I really have to get used to this feeling. Usually, when I drive a new car, I can expect things from other cars from that brand,
Ferrari, Porsche, AMG, you name it. However, in this MC20, I don't have any reference points. It's completely new.
I really have to get to know it. And it's quite a wild car at that. It does 0-200 km/h in around 8,8 seconds, whilst 0-100 km/h takes...
2,9 seconds. Very good times. But it doesn't drive like anything I've driven before.
I would've thought it would drive like a small Ferrari. But it doesn't. Let's go back in time a little, to the first Ferrari California.
That wasn't a car with the most positve reviews, despite the sound. And one of the things I read about the California, because it was little before my time,
was that it felt more like a Maserati than a Ferrari. You might think, that's not that bad. But now that I'm driving this MC20, I get it.
It's a tad more accessible than a Ferrari, a tad less wild. It's still very stylish and sporty with a lot of performance, but it's not...
as venomous as the Ferrari. That way, it has created its own personality, which I think is really cool.
And if you consider the time they've taken to produce this car, that's quite the achievement.
I do wonder what'll be left of that spirit and feeling if they convert the MC20 to electrical. Usually, a lot of spirit and soul comes from the drivetrain.
Especially when it comes to a brand like Maserati, that could pose to be a problem. Also, it's incredibly expensive.
We don't know the Dutch prices yet, but it already costs €220.000 without added taxes. And it's not a very economical car.
I think you'll have to be looking at entry level prices at around €270.000, and that's a whole lot of money.
That's a lot more than a 911 Turbo, which is very similar when it comes to performance figures.
On the other hand, that's more of a GT. This is much lighter. The MC20 also rivals the McLaren 570S and the Audi R8. However, those...
are a tad more luxurious, with the McLaren being more high-tech as well. So no, Maserati doesn't have the price-advantage going for them.
Even a Ferrari F8, which is an entirely different breed of sports car, way higher than this MC20, is not that very far away when it comes to price.
If you're already spending this kind of money for a car, that is. So the question is going to be, if there will be enough buyers.
But that might not be a problem for Maserati. They know there are lots of people in the USA and Asia that want this car.
That means they now have a halo-car, which kickstarts the relaunch of the brand Maserati.
They'll most likely use a toned-down version of this engine in other cars that need a V6. and I expect them to keep this design style going.
It has a lot of usable styling cues. For a relaunch of Maserati, it's quite the sporty car however.
It doesn't have anything to do with the Levante, despite that being a sporty SUV. As a car however, it's really good. It has really...
nailed the mix between track and public roads. It's so much better than And that's very cool. It's much better than an Alfa Romeo 4C for example.
So I'll end this video with what I started with. The vibes this car gives me really remind me of the Alpine A110-vibes, only with much more performance.