Maserati’s five-year-old Alfieri concept will finally influence a production car that is set to reach the market in 2020 – and the latest information suggests the model will use an all-new electrified engine that’s being developed in-house in Modena. Images released by the firm show what looks to be a mid-engined two-seater sports car wrapped in camouflaged on the city’s streets, although it’s believed to be a development mule based on sister brand Alfa Romeo’s 4C, rather than a signal that a two-seater performance model is incoming.
Instead, the powertrain within – official details of which have not yet been released – is likely destined for a 2+2 Maserati inspired by said concept, which will hit the roads at a time when the company is gradually phasing out its use of Ferrari-supplied V6 and V8 engines. It’s likely that Maserati’s in-house developed motors will be smaller than the respective 3.8 and 4.7-litre Ferrari engines, with hybrid power providing boost to ensure overall performance is at least maintained.
Maserati said the photographed mule’s powertrain is to become the “forefather of a new family of engines integrated exclusively on the vehicles of the brand”, suggesting it’ll be the largest and most potent variant of the design. The question as to whether Maserati has opted for eight, six or potentially even four cylinders remains unanswered; the Alfieri concept used a Ferrari-supplied V8 but it’s long been mooted that a hybrid V6 is the most realistic option for a production car set to face ever stricter emissions limits.
Further into the next decade, the production Alfieri is expected to gain an all-electric version, which would act as a halo for Maserati’s future line-up. With the old but characterful GranTurismo now officially gone and the Levante Trofeo’s supply of Ferrari V8s barely more than a year from drying up, it seems Maserati will look – and sound – very different in the 2020s to how it has in this decade. Sad news for fans of the brand - but probably necessary to ensure Maserati’s survival in the years to come.
1 / 4