Maserati postpones their BEV premiere
FCA subsidiary Maserati has postponed the presentation of its first electrified sports car until September 2020 due to the Covid 19 pandemic. Originally, the event was to take place in May. As a result, the relaunch of the brand has also been postponed.
At the event ‘MMXX: The way forward’ not only a new model but also the new brand strategy of the Italian noble car manufacturer was to be presented. “In view of the current situation”, however, the date in May cannot be kept. After all, the launch was to be held at the brand’s headquarters in Modena, Northern Italy – one of the worst-hit regions at presents.
However, Maserati is sticking to this plan at a later date. “As already mentioned, the event will be held in Modena and will mark the beginning of a new era for the brand,” says the brief statement, which was also communicated via Twitter.
Details of the vehicle were not provided. However, this will be the production version of the study that Maserati presented as Alfieri some years ago. This designation is no longer used; instead, there is talk of a “brand new sports car.”
According to earlier information, the model is to be launched as a coupe and convertible and will initially receive a plug-in hybrid with four-wheel drive – referred to by FCA as “e-AWD”. It remains to be seen whether this will be a transaxle PHEV in which the combustion engine drives one axle and the electric motor drives the other axle. At a capital market day in 2018 – at that time still under the previous FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne – it was said that the PHEV would be only 175 kilograms heavier than a combustion engine. A BEV model based on the same aluminium spaceframe is also to follow – with 800-volt technology and three electric motors.
While this information from 2018 cannot be regarded as certain, it is clear that the Mirafiori plant near Turin will play a key role in the electrification of Maserati. Not only the Ghibli sedan will be built there in a hybrid version, but also the new all-electric Fiat 500.
With reporting by Sebastian Schaal, Germany.
0 Comments