Next week, Maserati is launching the MC20, a direct descendent of the $2 million MC12 (in good ways and bad), and Maserati’s first new car in over four years. It’s very likely the most interesting thing Maserati’s done in a bit longer than that.
That last interesting thing, by my estimation, was the Alfieri concept from 2014. What’s interesting about the MC20 is it will have its own motor powering it, the 100-per cent in-house designed Maserati engine that shares a lot of parts with Ferrari and Alfa Romeo. That engine is a 3.0 litre, twin turbo V6 that Maserati has previously said would make 456 kW and 330 Nm of torque.
(It’s also worth noting that the MC20 sure looks like corporate bosses handed Maserati the Alfa Romeo 8C concept to deal with, as Daniel Golson pointed out on Twitter the other week.)
What’s also interesting is that Maserati is choosing 2020 to finally debut its own engine, even as it is also developing electric powertrains. That gives a decidedly retro feel to this launch, a supercar with an all-new internal combustion engine in the year of our Lord 2020. A hybrid version is also in the works, though not for the US, according to Autoblog.
The run-up to the launch has also been textbook, with various hints from Maserati here and there, the latest of which was this week in the form of a tweet:
Lift off is imminent.
MC20 lands September 9th.https://t.co/df4pBqTwWH#MaseratiMC20#MaseratiMMXX#Maserati pic.twitter.com/rxi5Qwc7AX— Maserati (@Maserati_HQ) August 31, 2020
Looks like a car? Styling is not my forte, so I will leave judgment on its looks up to the better-informed, though we’ve also seen spy shots of the MC20 in the past. It looks, of course, like what it is: a mid-engined sports car whose styling is very curvy. Expect this to get here possibly next year but more likely in 2022.
One of the biggest question for me is price, and whether the price will be completely ridiculous, like the MC12, or merely a quarter-of-a-million-dollars-or-so ridiculous. Car and Driver, for what it’s worth, estimates the latter. I still, for some reason, can’t afford that.