Maserati has reinvented its large, luxurious, four-seater open-top called the GranCabrio into an all-electric model this time around, which it has christened ‘Folgore’ - the Italian word for lightning. Using a triple-motor set-up and a large battery pack, you’re supposed to get the best of both worlds from this exotic machine: namely, zero-emissions running and nearly 450km of one-shot driving range from clean electrical energy on the one hand; and then absolutely blistering performance, in the form of 0-100km/h in 2.8 seconds and a top speed of 290km/h, on the other. Indeed, those latter stats allow Maserati to lay claim to the title of ‘the fastest electric soft-top in the world’.
Arrayed against a wealth of prestige talent in the ultra-expensive convertible realm, the Folgore currently has the edge on all of them as there are no all-electric alternatives of a similar status on sale. But is novelty value enough to put the Maserati top of the tree? At its international media launch we drove it - and the petrol version - on country roads in the north of its native Italy.
Tell us about the styling of the Maserati GranCabrio Folgore
Maserati has subtly evolved the appearance of the old GranCabrio - and the GranCoupe hard-top relation - for the latest version, despite the fact it is an all-new car and not merely a facelift. There are also clear elements of the Maserati MC20 supercar mixed in, most notably in the smaller, upright front lights and oval grille. Speaking of which, while the Folgore might not need anything like as much cooling air as the only alternative model in the GranCabrio range, the petrol-propelled Trofeo, it still has a radiator grille - but with a different identifying pattern of intakes for the EV.
More notably, the Folgore has less pronounced apertures at the outer edges of its front bumper, while there is model-specific badging on the side of the ‘cofango’ (that word a portmanteau of the Italian words for bonnet and wing, to point out that the three-metre-square front of the Maserati is all of one piece) and then the cover for the EV’s charging port is under one of the rear lights. It also has a more aerodynamic design of 20-inch front, 21-inch rear alloy wheels, but in general the Folgore is conventional-enough looking and rather handsome for it.
A look inside the Maserati GranCabrio
Material quality in the GranCabrio is truly excellent. There’s not a surface nor plastic employed which feels cut-price, and the general layout, fit and finish, and ergonomic correctness of everything is most pleasing. It certainly feels every bit as opulent and luxurious within the passenger compartment as in many of its key rivals, although it doesn’t quite have the same feeling of artisanry that you might get in, say, a Bentley or a Rolls-Royce. It’s sort of tastefully, restrainedly Italian, though, so that’s a major bonus.
One of Maserati’s long-held features is a stretched wheelbase (the distance between the front wheels and the back wheels) and that’s no exception for the GranCabrio - it’s more than 2.9 metres when measured between the axles. This translates into a surprisingly roomy passenger compartment; we’d stop short of calling it a full four-seater, but it’s possibly the only one of these big convertibles that could reasonably take a quartet of average-height adults onboard with little discomfort.
Perhaps less in keeping with its grand tourer sensibilities - if the romantic ideal of slinging some luggage in the boot and then travelling for thousands of kilometres across the continent on holiday is to be believed - is that the boot is minuscule on the GranCabrio Folgore. The battery pack in the vehicle is T-shaped in order to preserve as much interior room as it can, and it has resulted in a commendably low body shape at just 1,365mm tall, but the boot holds only 151 litres if the fold-down hood storage unit is stashed away and that drops to a mere 114 litres if you want to travel with the roof down at any stage.
The Maserati GranCabrio’s on-board technology
Another strong area for the Maserati GranCabrio. The centrepiece is a rather swish, easy-to-operate 12.3-inch infotainment system that can be bypassed by wireless Apple CarPlay or Android Auto if you prefer your smartphone’s interface. There’s then a 12.2-inch digital instrument cluster and a crystal-clear head-up display, both of which are configurable, while the 8.8-inch ‘Comfort Display’ is the one for the climate controls; so yes, it’s a touchscreen, but at least it’s a dedicated unit so that’s a good decision by Maserati.
Throw in a digital interpretation of one of this marque’s most traditional features (the dashboard clock), a fabric roof which can be raised or lowered in either 14 or 16 seconds (even on the move at up to 50km/h), and the 815-watt, 13-speaker Sonos Faber sound system - with the possibility to uprate it to a 16-speaker, 1,060-watt, 3D Premium Sound option - and the Maserati’s cabin feels suitably modern.
Driving the Maserati GranCabrio Folgore
Make no mistake, Maserati cramming all of the necessary electrical systems into the body of an elegant grand tourer with a folding roof is little short of remarkable. It’s an unalloyed triumph of packaging (small boot aside) and it’s right that the Italian firm makes a big deal of the fact that no other manufacturer has done such a thing yet.
However, regrettably it results in a car that’s not that scintillating to drive, save for in the most obvious regard: sheer, unmitigated, borderline frightening and face-shape-changing speed. Each of the GranCabrio Folgore’s electric motors, one positioned on the front axle and the other two at the rear - resulting in all-wheel drive with torque-vectoring for the back wheels - can generate 300kW. That would, if they could deliver this output at the same time, correlate to a bonkers 1,224hp, so somewhat sensibly Maserati limits the Folgore to slightly more reasonable numbers.
We say ‘slightly’, because a nominal 762hp - which raises to 830hp on the time-limited ‘MaxBoost’ phase - is still a colossal figure... although it’s nothing like as demented as the maximum torque, which is 1,350Nm. That is flippin’ enormous. And so, despite the fact the GranCabrio Folgore weighs a considerable 2,340kg in this specification as a result of its big battery pack, it can vault to 100km/h from rest in just 2.8 seconds and go on to a top speed of 290km/h.
And, aside from a lack of meaningful noise from the car - there’s a bit of humming and even traces of combustion-engine fakery to the discreet voice the Folgore does possess - there’s no denying the drama of the full hit of the Maserati’s power. It is ludicrously quick in a straight line, from any given speed to any other given speed, and that counts even if you’ve experienced a handful of big-power EVs. No other open-top grand tourer would get anything like close to it in a drag race.
But when you get beyond the adrenaline-hit of those first few samples of just how fast the Folgore is, what you’re left with is a rather compromised machine. Maserati is keen to point out that any GranCabrio, be it electric or petrol, is a grand tourer primarily, and not a sports car, so you shouldn’t expect the most dynamic of handling. Yet the Folgore is very much ‘point, and shoot, and for goodness’ sake hang on for dear life while you’re at it’. It adds up to a rather binary, uninvolving driving experience.
If you start trying to hustle it on a twisting road, it’s just way too fast on the straights for the braking power it has been given in order to try and corral nigh-on 2.4 tonnes of hard-charging EV. There’s mammoth grip from the underpinnings of the GranCabrio and the traction benefits of the all-wheel drive, but once you’ve tipped the Folgore into a corner, you won’t discern anything of its torque-vectoring rear axle. Instead, you’ll just be acutely aware you’re driving something very, very heavy in a manner it’s not entirely geared up for.
This wouldn’t be so bad if the Folgore took maximum advantage of its near-silent, vibration-free electric drivetrain to be super-comfortable when you’re not deploying its vast reserves of power, but it’s not. Too often, you’re reminded of the big alloys suspended at each corner of the car, as the Folgore fidgets and thumps a little too much on imperfect road surfaces more than it strictly should. As ever in the modern age, the compliance of its suspension improves as speeds rise, but in and around town - or ‘boulevard cruising’, in other words - the Maserati simply feels a little too unresolved. And that firmness also belies a very, very slight sensation of scuttle shake (the feeling that the car’s body is flexing with its roof down) at times, although we are talking trace levels of the stuff here.
Overall, the Folgore feels like it was designed to do one thing: accelerate with such startling vehemence that it’ll take your breath, and possibly most of your renal functions while it’s at it, away. And y’ know... it does do that, the first few times. But after that party trick has been explored once, twice or thrice, what you’re left with is a grand tourer that feels a tad too compromised on the road to truly rave about it.
What’s the electric range of the Maserati GranCabrio Folgore?
This is the obvious strong suit of the Maserati GranCabrio Folgore. Where most of its rivals, sporting enormous V8, V10 or even V12/W12 powertrains, would struggle to manage 15 litres/100km in most normal operation, the Italian car is an EV - so if you can charge it at home regularly, it should prove outrageously cheap to run for something so potent.
Officially, Maserati quotes a range of between 419- and 447km for the Folgore, with higher-than-average electrical consumption figures of 22.4-23.7kWh/100km; seriously, what do you expect with three monster 300kW electric motors guzzling away greedily at an 83kWh battery pack? Nevertheless, the electric GranCabrio has a good cruising range and, if anything, its charging rates are almost as quick as the way it accelerates. With an 800-volt electrical architecture, the Folgore has a maximum charging speed of 270kW, which results in a 20-80 per cent charge in just 18 minutes at its fastest; or, put another way, an additional 100km of range for every five minutes of hook-up.
On a more common 50kW DC charger, you’re looking at 25 minutes for every 100km of range (so about one hour 40 minutes to do 20-80 per cent), while for AC, it can charge at up to 22kW where you can find such connections - again, 100km now takes an hour, so four hours or thereabouts for a full charge. On the far more prevalent 7.4kW AC home wallbox, we’d estimate in the region of 11 hours would be needed to totally top up the Maserati’s battery pack.
How much is the Maserati GranCabrio Folgore?
Although there is no official Maserati presence south of the border in Ireland, it’s not too trying an exercise to enlist the Charles Hurst Group in Belfast to import a new one. And this is where the electric powertrain makes a huge amount of sense thanks to a low VRT rate of just seven per cent. Based on a VAT-inclusive UK price of a little over £185,000, we reckon a GranCabrio Folgore could be registered for ‘just’ €250,000. That’s some €100,000 less than the petrol-engined GranCabrio would end up costing here and considerably lower than any open-topped car with comparable performance.
The reasons you’d buy a Maserati GranCabrio Folgore
You’d go for the Maserati GranCabrio Folgore because it’s a lovely-looking, four-seat, grand-touring open-top with a beautifully appointed cabin as its basis, with that basic recipe only topped off by all the benefits and ecological appeal of a zero-emission drivetrain that bestows quite outlandish performance on this big EV. On the flipside, it’s not that great to drive beyond the phenomenal pace of the thing, the ride comfort leaves a bit to be desired and, while Maserati as a brand has cachet, is it as strong a pull from the Trident as you’d get from, say, owning a Ferrari, Porsche, Aston Martin or Bentley? Difficult to say, but overall, the Folgore is a deeply intriguing and well-executed attempt at a kind of car no other manufacturer makes, as yet. For that reason alone, it’s worth sincere consideration if you’re in the market for a special open-topped car.
Ask us anything about the Maserati GranCabrio Folgore
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