Maserati Grecale spotted in new photos: premiere next month
The direct competitor of the new crossover of the Italian brand will be the Porsche Macan. It will likely also have to compete for buyers with the BMW X3 and Jaguar F-Pace.
The Maserati brand is owned by auto giant Stellantis, which became a global player in the automotive market early last year. Sales of cars of the Italian brand before last year in Europe have been declining in recent years. So, for the “covid” 2020, customers bought 3,435 cars, which is almost 40% less than a year earlier. However, in 2021, the brand had a “plus” in the Old World market: dealers sold 4,277 copies, an increase of 24.5% compared to the previous year.
Pictured: Maserati Grecale prototype
Earlier in the fall of 2020, Maserati discussed work on a new crossover that would be a step below the Levante in the brand hierarchy. The manufacturer also revealed the name of the future novelty – they decided to call the model Grecale. Remember that he received this name in honor of the gregal – the name given to the strong cold northeast wind of the Mediterranean Sea. Previously, the company had already announced the release date – November 16, 2021, but in the end it was decided to postpone the debut (the company indicated that the reason was the global shortage of microcircuits).
In October, it was reported that the premiere of the Maserati Grecale would take place in the spring, now the company has revealed the date of the presentation of the novelty – the model will lose its camouflage on March 22, 2022. The official press release of the brand was published on the SUV website: the prototype is still hidden by a protective film.
Judging by the new and old images, the front of the new SUV will receive the same large, wide, horizontally elongated grille as on the current models of the brand. The stern and profile of the Grecale resemble a smaller version of the Levante crossover. The car was fitted with a diffuser and exhaust system with four tailpipes (two on each side of the bottom of the rear bumper).
As Kolesa.ru previously reported, the new Maserati will be based on the Giorgio platform, this “car” is familiar to us from Alfa Romeo Stelvio and Giulia (it will be removed in the future). According to preliminary data, the top version of the Grecale will receive a 3.0-liter V6 “biturbo engine” from the Nettuno series of Maserati's own design: it is equipped with the MC20 supercar, where it produces 630 hp. (maximum torque – 730 Nm), but, probably, for an SUV, the return will be cut off. The engine is mated to an eight-speed DCT dual-clutch automatic transmission. Additionally, the crossover may have a “mild hybrid” with a 2.0-liter four-cylinder “turbo engine”. Later, perhaps, there will be a fully electric modification of the Grecale.
Serial production of the new Maserati crossover will begin at the Stellantis plant located in Cassino (Italy): models belonging to the Alfa Romeo brand are now being produced here (it is also owned by the automotive giant Stellantis). The Grecale is expected to go on sale in the 2023 model year.
Earlier, the designer Kolesa.ru imagined what the Maserati Grecale would look like – we published render images of the future novelty last summer. Very soon we will find out whether the artist's ideas coincided with reality.