All-new Maserati models confirmed

Maserati hasn’t released an all-new model for five years. But that’s about to change with the launch of a new electric sports car flagship and its first mid-size SUV.

The last new Maserati launched was the Levante SUV in 2014. In the same year a new Maserati performance flagship was promised, when the sleek Alfieri 2+2 coupe concept (pictured) stunned the Geneva motor show.

The Alfieri was subsequently confirmed for production in 2016 and then delayed (until 2022) before finally being killed off.

In February 2019, however, Maserati announced it would produce “the first pre-series production cars of a totally new model, a characteristically Maserati sports car” at its historic Modena factory in the first half of 2020”.

At the time, the company said its Via Ciro Menotti plant, where the GranTurismo (and its convertible twin, the GranCabrio) will cease production after 12 years this December, will be “dedicated to the manufacturing of special high performance, high technology sports cars”.

Now, speaking at the Modena factory this, Maserati head of communication Maria Conti has confirmed the all-new sports car will make its global debut at the 2020 Geneva motor show.

“We will have a special surprise in the first quarter of 2020… probably at Geneva – a new generation sports car to be built right here in Modena,” she told carsales.

While Maserati officials otherwise remained tight-lipped, carsales understands the Geneva sports car will appear in final showroom form and production will commence by mid-2020.

Expected to be Maserati’s first plug-in hybrid model, the new flagship and GranTurismo replacement is likely to be available in Australia by the end of 2020.

One Maserati insider told us: “Alfieri might be dead, but what’s coming instead will blow everyone away – it’s even more beautiful”.

Technical details remain scarce, but the unnamed Maserati sports car will be offered in both all-electric and plug-in hybrid forms. Only the latter is certain for Australia.

All Maserati models (including the Levante and the Ghibli and Quattroporte sedans) are set to become available with PHEV (and later full-EV) powertrains from next year.

The PHEV models are aimed primarily at China and US, which together account for 60 per cent of Maserati sales. They will likely feature Maserati’s 3.0-litre turbo-petrol V6.

However, the new sports car’s electric tech will be different.

Based on a new Maserati platform (that will also underpin the next-generation Levante, Ghibli and Quattroporte due from 2022), the pure-EV sports car could adopt the three-motor, 800-volt battery-electric system previously announced for the still-borne Alfieri.

Potent? How does 0-100km/h in around two seconds sound?

The PHEV version, however, could combine three electric motors with Maserati’s 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8, which produces up to 440kW/730Nm in the Levante Trofeo, Maserati’s most powerful model ever.

The new plug-in Ferrari SF90 Stradale employs precisely this powertrain configuration, but it’s unlikely Maserati’s sports car will match its stratospheric 1000hp output.

Either way, Maserati’s first electrified model will be a technical tour de force and a fitting replacement for the glorious naturally aspirated GranTurismo, which will be retired in style with a heritage-themed Aspirato Edition to enter production in September.

Maserati’s ‘Macan’

Maserati’s other additional model for 2020 is a baby brother for the Levante SUV. At this stage it’s tipped to appear at the Frankfurt motor show in September -- at least in concept form.

As outlined in Fiat Chrysler’s latest five-year business plan in 2018, the smaller Maserati SUV will go on sale in key markets later next year, but won’t arrive Down Under until 2021.

Maserati’s answer to the Porsche Macan is expected to kickstart the brand’s next sales growth phase both globally, where 100,000 annual sales is the target by 2022, and in Australia -- despite the fact it won’t undercut the $100,000 mark as hoped.

Maserati has already promised the as-yet-unnamed mid-size SUV will offer a class-leading power-to-weight ratio, 50/50 weight balance and Level 3 autonomous driving capability, but no diesel power.

Nor will it be based on the same Giorgio platform as the Alfa Romeo Stelvio, as widely anticipated. Instead, it will be underpinned by Maserati’s new-generation platform and be powered by its new V6 PHEV system.

Base models should get Maserati’s twin-turbo V6, which currently delivers 257kW/500Nm in base form, while the 321kW/580Nm outputs already offered by S versions of the Levante, Ghibli and Quattroporte will be a solid match for the 294kW/550Nm Porsche Macan Turbo.