‘Maserati presents MC20 Cielo, a one-of-a-kind car that can deliver the performance of a true super sports car, together with a holistic and immersive driving pleasure the like of which has never been seen before.’ Well, that’s a claim. And a bold one at that. But we’re not going to knock a bit of Latin passion, especially when the Maserati MC20 Cielo looks so splendiferous and has a large trident daubed on its engine cover. Nice touch, that.
Cielo, in case you’re wondering, means sky in Italian, and the idea is you’ll be seeing plenty of that in the MC20 Cielo. That’s whether the roof is up or down, because the Cielo has a glass folding roof that lets the light flood in even when closed. If that makes you think of a sweltering greenhouse, think again. The panel above your head is electrochromic ‘smart glass’ with layered polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC). As you might guess, then, at the touch of a button it switches from transparent to opaque and offers ‘best-in-class’ thermal insulation.
The roof also opens and closes in 12 seconds, so in no time you'll be enjoying the crisp bark of the MC20’s Nettuno 630hp twin-turbo V6 motor. This won’t really be straining any harder, either. The Cielo weighs just 65kg more than the coupé (in the region of 1,540kg) thanks to its stiff carbon tub that was designed from the outset with the convertible in mind – and the forthcoming electric version for that matter. Therefore, Maserati claims the Cielo’s torsional rigidity remains high, despite the gaping hole and little added bracing.
The attractive shade of the car you see pictured is the new launch colour. It’s called Acquamarina and it’s a three-layer metallic from the Maserati Fuoriserie customisation programme. Other new additions to the MC20 range include automatic emergency braking, traffic sign recognition and a 360-degree parking camera. And there’s an optional Sonus faber 12-speaker sound system that delivers a ‘natural sound’. Now, whether that’s better than the natural sound emanating from the tailpipes when the roof is down is a matter of debate. Cost? No mention of that, but the coupé is £187,230 so we doubt there will be much change, if any, from £200,000 - but that's still a chunk less than the Ferrari 296 GTS and McLaren 720 S Spider.
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