Remember the Maserati Alfieri? Of course you don’t. Maserati first revealed its F-type-alike two-seat coupe back in 2014 and given how much happens in a week these days – new memes, new royals, new memes about royals – you can’t very well be expected to recall a pretty but defunct concept car from four years ago…
Except… it’s back! Yes, the Maserati Alfieri is going into production, really, promise, absolutely-gonna-happen this time. And Maserati has selected it as the spearhead for its new hybrid and electrification programme. The Alfieri will ditch the concept’s V8 engine, and be offered as a plug-in hybrid and a bespoke EV. This is the part where we say ‘look out, Tesla’, or some such cliché. Then again…
Maserati claims the all-electric, all-wheel drive version of the, erm, Alfi-E-ri will be good for a 0-100kph time of less than two seconds. Yep, one-point-something to a hundred. That puts it right alongside the proposed Tesla Roadster’s performance claims.
Meanwhile, a plug-in hybrid version will be offered likely to combine a bi-turbo V6 powerplant with battery power for reduced CO2 emissions. Maserati says the car’s aluminium spaceframe construction will prioritise low weight, and the EV version will ‘only’ weigh 175kg more than the petrol-powered variant. In addition to the coupe pictured above, Maserati will also sell a two-door soft-top roadster that’ll rival the likes of the Mercedes AMG Roadster and the upcoming Aston Martin Vantage.
Maserati itself is morphing into an EV brand, we’re promised. Hybrids will be rolled out across the range, in the next SUVs and the Quattroporte and Ghibli saloon successors. Maserati will also share tech with Alfa Romeo to accelerate a fully electric SUV into production in the next decade – to fight the Mercedes EQ range and Audi’s new e-tron – while engine development will continue to be headed by cousin brand Ferrari.
We’ve been promised much by Maserati before, but let down along the way. Do you have faith that the Alfieri and co. can take the EV fight to Tesla and beyond?
