What a difference a new model generation can make, eh?
The previous Maserati Granturismo, with its 4.8-litre naturally aspirated V8, was one of the rortiest-sounding cars in existence. Indeed, were an owner to fire up their sleek Italian GT on a cold start round the back of Harrods, the more keen-eared pedestrians outside South Kensington tube would just be able to make out the engine’s rip-roaring gargle. Superb.
But now the V8 has been retired on – of course – emissions grounds. The latest Maserati Granturismo, which looks similar to the old one but is more or less an entirely new car, now carries a 3.0-litre V6, but the platform has been engineered also to facilitate a purely electric set-up. The Granturismo has thus gone from having one of the most extroverted sonic signatures in the car world to having almost none at all.
We’re nonetheless keen and curious to road test the Granturismo Folgore, as the electric version is known. As we’ll soon discover, Maserati’s approach to building a super-EV is different from what already exists out there. There’s also no shortage of speed and this car remains unusually easy on the eye.
Might, in some ways, a clinical, refined and hugely effectively electric powertrain actually suit the urbane Granturismo rather well? Time to find out what the first electric Maserati is really like in the UK.
