Maserati MC20 Folgore electric supercar cancelled for now
The electric version of the sublime Maserati MC20 has been a long time coming. Now it’s probably not coming at all
Maserati has quietly delayed the electric version of its MC20 supercar. What was set to be called the MC20 Folgore has been put on the back burner by the Italian marque, citing weak demand for such a model and the requirement for significant investment to develop and productionise.
A short, sharp statement from Italy, reads: ‘The project was stopped due to the current forecast for insufficient demand in the super sports car market for a battery electric vehicle.’
The electric version of the MC20 had been in the pipeline since before the petrol car was revealed at the end of 2020. By contrast, the combustion and electric versions of Maserati’s GranTurismo grand tourer arrived almost in tandem, within a year of each other. The 751bhp GranTurismo Folgore is the most powerful road car the marque has ever produced.
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The MC20 Folgore was expected to debut in similarly short order, but it never came to pass. As the years rolled on – the MC20 will be five years old this year – the Folgore’s cancellation grew more and more likely. Whether the project is reactivated will of course depend on how market conditions evolve and if demand for such a car materialises.
Maserati’s is just the latest U-turn on high-end electric cars to come over the last year, as demand for such models has stalled. Late last year Lotus announced that it would be retrofitting its range of bespoke electric cars with a ‘hyper hybrid’ system, augmenting their electric motors with what is essentially a range extender. Lotus has unlikely agility when it comes to such a move, given versions of this powertrain concept do already exist elsewhere in the portfolio of Lotus’s parent company, the Geely group. We very much doubt the Evija, Lotus’s hypercar, will be getting the same treatment, with news of the hypercar’s arrival with customers, or exactly how many have been sold, still thin on the ground almost six years on from its reveal.
The market as it stands seems to favour plug-in hybrids, at least at the general level, though market sentiments sour even on these at higher levels. Even Ferrari finds itself in a battle with the market over electrification, with the weak residual values for its excellent hybrid supercar, the 296 GTB, coming as a shock to most. Nevertheless the marque is set to go ahead with the launch of its own all-electric model later this year, that’s expected to be a more practical offering rather than an all-out electric supercar. Lamborghini meanwhile is keeping a close eye on how things shake out, delaying in the short term the introduction of the Lanzador all-electric super SUV. On the UK debut of the Temerario supercar last year, CEO Stephen Winkelman told evo not to expect to see the car before 2030.
Maserati is between a rock and a hard place when it comes to electrification. Appetite is weak for high-performance and luxury EVs of all flavours, while hybrids remain a tough sell in some cases. As it stands, it doesn’t have the technical agility to pivot to hybridisation in the short term, so for now, the MC20 will soldier on with only twin-turbo V6 Nettuno power. No complaints here.
