After nearly 13 years, the Italian luxury brand that has grown accustomed to getting clowned on finally decides to refresh the GranTurismo. When the GranTurismo first went on sale in what feels like the Stone Age, it sported a 4.7 L uniquely Italian V8. The Folgore trades out the V8 for an all-electric powertrain stuffed beneath the center control stack. Now, after spy shots and rumors, Maserati has finally given a snapshot of what the Folgore looks like without the funky wrap in a reveal video.
The Folgore is Maserati’s first fully electric production vehicle, advancing on the work done on the MC20 supercar powertrain and taking it one step further. For a vehicle model not seriously updated in terms of… really quite anything since 2007, it’s due for a long awaited refresh. Kinda. The new Folgore doesn’t really change much externally except a slightly more modern front fascia adapted from the Grecale SUV. The biggest difference is the new electric power plant that Maserati tries to get consumers to lighten up to by including comedian Sebastian Maniscalo in the YouTube video.
The video essentially is Head of Design Klaus Busse and Maria Conte showing off the Folgore in all of its different aspects. Klaus explains that the Folgore is still a true Maserati, and that all of its Italian sports luxury traits apply. Driving, we could hear the audible roar of a faux engine coming through the cabin which Maserati says is created by the same sound engineers that create the tone of the internal combustion Maseratis. While we aren’t a huge fan of fake exhaust noise, we must say from the video it sounded pretty good, especially on acceleration.
Speaking of acceleration, Conte explains that the 0-60 time is 2.6 seconds as we witnessed the Folgore take off like a lightning bolt in the short clip. The Folgore is allowed to keep its low stature due to engineers being able to ergonomically situate the electric motor in the center control stack. While maintaining the signature sports car look, the Folgore can top itself out at over 200 MPH which is a bump from the rumored 186 MPH stated back in March. To achieve all this, we’ve known that it can wrestle with around 1,200 HP in the tank, a number which is becoming more and more commonplace in the performance EV world.
Ironically enough, we never got to see the true interior or the dashboard of the Folgore. The video made sure we understood that that information is being kept under wraps until the official reveal in 2023 by slapping a huge “confidential” sticker and blurring out the dash. The interior has been the lowpoint of the GranTurismo thus far, and it’ll be interesting to see how Maserati has innovated upon a literal number pad within the car, probably not hard to do but hey, you know them Italians right?
