Maserati 'cancelled' the electric MC20 - but don't write it off for good...
Promising huge power and similar dynamics to those of the V6 car, the MC20 Folgore would have been the first electric supercar on sale – the circa-2000bhp Rimac Nevera, Pininfarina Battista and Lotus Evija meriting full-bore hypercar status.
Its potentially seminal status was ultimately its downfall, though, with nothing comparable on sale against which it could be benchmarked. Maserati wasn't confident it would attract a sufficient number of buyers away from V6 and V8-engined alternatives to recoup the substantial development costs.
Maserati CEO Santo Ficili stands by the decision and told Autocar: 'I don't think it's the right time to take this kind of supercar in the electrification direction.'
But he added that the MC20 Folgore project was on pause, rather than cancelled, and the car could yet make production as the MCPura Folgore.
'Let's say we will see,' he said when asked if the firm's supercar could yet go electric. 'The project is [advanced], but we decided to wait to understand what is going to happen.'
There are no immediate plans to begin development again. Ficili said: 'We have this fantastic [V6] engine that is to the satisfaction of our customers. We hold a different kind of power. This is our engine at this time.'
He added that he did not have the 'crystal ball' to see when there will be a market for an electric supercar, and that it was crucial 'to have the customer ready to buy a car like this' before investing further.
In the meantime, Ficili went as far as to suggest Maserati could launch a new ICE-powered, manual-shifting super-GT flagship, in partnership with Alfa Romeo. This would be likely to use the 3.0-litre twin-turbo Nettuno V6 that powers the MC20 and Granturismo.
The firm's technical boss Davide Danesin Maserati engineering boss Davide Danesin said "there are still customers looking for pure mechanical cars,' because they have a 'bad feeling' about having a battery on board a supercar, due to the heightened complexity and extra weight it brings.
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