Are you ready for a fully electric Italian sports car? If your answer is “no” — that’s okay, you’ve still got about a year to prepare. But your window is closing. Maserati, the global luxury brand within the new Stellantis automotive group, appears to be making more aggressive moves at becoming an all-electric brand than any other traditional automaker. These EV efforts will be housed under a new Maserati product family name: Folgore.
The Italian car company says it will be the first luxury brand to introduce a fully electric sports car next year, and will follow up with a fully-electric grand-touring car and a fully-electric SUV, also next year. If that’s not enough flowing electrons for you, by 2025 Maserati says its entire line-up will be fully electric, well ahead of the 2030 date set by so many other luxury brands intent on kicking the internal combustion habit.
What’s driving such a short EV timeline at Maserati? After hearing from the brand’s executives it’s clear they are singularly focused on leading the EV transition. Everything from the instant torque and rapid acceleration offered by electric motors to the ultra-refined drivetrain traits that come with EVs synchronizes with Maserati’s heritage and future.
The timing of this transition should prove interesting, as Maserati is coming off one of its best years ever. In 2021 the brand grew global sales 41 percent and improved market share in key locations like the U.S. and China. As with so many premium performance brands, the introduction of an SUV has been a boon for Maserati in recent years, with sales of the Levante up 59 percent. But the Ghibli and Quattroporte contributed as well, up 33 and 7 percent, respectively, in 2021.
That’s a lot of momentum to maintain, especially given the supply chain challenges facing every automaker right now. Many of those challenges are even greater for EVs, which are more dependent on elements like neon, nickel and palladium. Yet the company isn’t balking, fully intent on meeting this aggressive timeframe even in the face of global unrest.
As the first of its EV products, next year’s sports car, the GranTurismo Folgore, offers compelling performance specs. Over 1,200 horsepower, a zero-to-60 time under 3 seconds, a top speed over 190 mph, and fully-integrated lightweight material technology, should make for an exciting driving experience.
We can’t wait to experience it. And with Maserati’s rapid shift to an all-electric vehicle line up, we don’t really have to.
