Autocar September 16, 2020

IF THERE’S ONE common thread running through this week’s issue, it’s that the joy of sports cars lives on enduringly, despite the various cost/emissions/electrification pressures that the car industry faces. First, congratulazioni to Maserati for unveiling just the model (p4) we’ve been hankering after from the flailing Italian marque for far too long. It’s too soon to say how well the MC20 will be executed on the road, but based on looks, claimed performance and the option of both petrol and electric variants, we have high hopes for it leading the brand’s reinvention. Closer to home, Matt Prior enjoys an epic drive in the latest Jaguar F-Type (p36). He reflects on the car’s heritage by taking it to a Belgian road used by the Autocar team in 1961 to obtain high-speed road…

Maserati has revealed the MC20 supercar, which will spearhead a bold, multibillion-pound revival plan for the historic Italian marque that includes a return to its performance-focused and racing roots. Initially being sold with a mid-mounted 621bhp V6, the new halo model will also offer electric power from 2022. Convertible and motorsport versions are on the cards, too. The MC20 is the first supercar that Maserati has produced since the limited-run MC12 two-seater it launched in 2004. While that model was essentially a rebodied Ferrari Enzo, the MC20 marks Maserati’s return to producing its very own sports cars, after parent company Fiat Chrysler Automobiles sold its stake in Ferrari back in 2016. “Initially being sold with a mid-mounted 621bhp V6, it will also offer electric power from 2022” The Maranello firm’s departure meant Maserati became…

This looks like the car we’ve been waiting for Maserati to do for years. It’s ambitious, but if Modena wants to sell decent volumes, the super-sports car market is a much better bet than the super-grand tourer market. Its 150-litre luggage capacity could be a sticking point, but very few of the other details revealed so far – oversquare twin-turbo V6 making peak power at 7500rpm, double-wishbone suspension all round and a kerb weight of less than 1500kg – will be. And the theory that this was supposed to be the new Ferrari Dino but was switched to be the MC20 at the last minute, with the production Maserati Alfieri becoming the Ferrari Roma in exchange, just isn’t credible. Ferrari and Maserati are simply no longer integrated or managed anywhere near closely…

Is the MC20’s platform shared with any other car? “It’s a completely new platform; there’s no one piece that’s coming from other vehicles. Even if at the beginning we wanted the same something to save time at a certain point, once you face that you have to develop a masterpiece with no compromise, you say ‘screw the components’.” Was it hard to develop a sports car platform for both V6 and EV power? “Due to the fact that we had a clear idea of which future version we wanted to develop, we have integrated all the constraints into the first version. For example, for the convertible, we don’t need to add structural elements to maintain the torsional stiffness so won’t increase the weight. And for the electric version, we have already considered the…

Maserati’s ambitious revival plan has been fully detailed, with 13 new models – including battery-electric versions of each new variant – due by the end of 2024. Core to this will be a new, Porsche Macan-rivalling SUV, dubbed the Grecale and sitting below the Levante. Based on the platform of the Alfa Romeo Stelvio (alongside which it will be built in Cassino, Italy) but with Maserati engines and design, it will be joined by an electric version in 2022. Following the MC20 will be an MC20 Spider convertible and, by 2022, an electric variant of the supercar. All of Maserati’s new EV variants will come under the umbrella sub-brand Folgore, meaning thunderbolt in Italian. They will use three electric motors – one on the front axle and two on the rear – to…

The revised F-Pace might not look all that different, but the finer details will mark out future models. Adam Hatton, reflecting on Jaguar design in general, said: “I thought we needed to get a lot better at detailing.” To that end, he has created a detail design group. “The new team is led by someone who used to be a watch designer. We have people outside of the car world because the people that buy luxury cars like all luxury products.” One example of such detailing are the graphics on the LED front lights. The Jaguar leaper, present on the side of this new F-Pace, will also appear more in future. That theme continues inside, with a 3D leaper on the headrests. This detail, along with the stitching on the gearshifter, seats…