Grancabrio EV will take on MG Cyberster when it arrives in UK later this year priced at around £185,000
Maserati has partially lifted the veil on the new Grancabrio Folgore, a soft-roofed electric GT promising to meld high-performance thrills with a tranquil open-air driving experience.
The Folgore, Italian for lightning, swaps its combustion-engined sibling’s twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 for the three electric motors from the hard-roofed Maserati Granturismo Folgore.
One is mounted to the front axle and the other two are at the rear. Each produces a whopping 402bhp, although their combined outputs are pegged at 751bhp and 996lb ft. This is due to the limited throughput of the 83kWh (usable) battery.
The Grancabrio’s Folgore’s structure is reinforced around the sills and the rear tray to maintain ride quality. Although the extra steel adds around 90kg compared with the coupé, the cabrio’s straight-line performance is almost identical.
It takes 2.8sec to dispatch the 0-62mph sprint, just 0.1sec behind the Granturismo Folgore. That is also 0.4sec quicker than the dual-motor MG Cyberster, the only other electric drop-top GT coming to the UK over the next year.
Visually, the Folgore swaps the slatted grille of its petrol equivalent for ‘inverted’ surfacing. This is to say that each grille pillar on the petrol car is an open area on the EV, and vice-versa.
Maserati design chief Klaus Busse explained that he opted to reinvent the grille rather than move to a flat surface to avoid having a “faceless” car. “You get a true Maserati face,” he said.
The Grancabrio Folgore uses the same folding fabric lid as the petrol car, which can be lowered or raised in 14.0sec, at speeds of up to 31mph.
A neck-warming system comes as standard, offering three levels of heat output. A wind deflector, which reduces turbulence over the passengers, is an optional extra.
Prices have yet to be confirmed by Maserati UK, but they are expected to start at around £185,000.
