GRECALE
I first met Grecale in 2020, during my first post UK lockdown international event. In Italy’s largest event since the pandemic began, the world of motoring gathered to witness the unveiling of a new era for Maserati, encapsulated in the Maserati MC20 supercar.
But the brand’s newness was just about the car, there was also the tweaked Maserati “hand-written” logo, still organic in appearance, but now more structured and formulaic than its predecessor. The famous trident has also been liberated from the surrounding ellipse, and now stands boldly, shedding the shackles of its past. These changes, though aesthetic, are reflective of deeper changes to the Maserati cars and approach going forward. In the MC20, where you would normally expect to find an emotional, thundering V8, there is now the intricately built V6 “Nettuno” engine; an engine conceived, designed and built completely in-house using MTC (Maserati Twin Combustion) technology.
As always, for a brand like Maserati with an intimate range of cars, it’s always big news when a new vehicle is added to the line-up, and the during trip there were murmurings of another new vehicle, new-type SUV called the Maserati Grecale. A fitting name as ever, representative of a north-easterly Mediterranean wind and following on from the tradition of naming pivotal Maserati cars named after regional winds. First there was the legendary Mistral in 1963 and since, there’s been the Ghibli, Bora, Khamsin and more recently the Maserati of SUV’s — Grecale’s older brother — Levante.
It was only at the end of the Modena factory tour we encountered Grecale — briefly — an athletic hulking mass hibernating beneath a camouflaged cover. At first glance, the profile looks similar that of the Levante SUV, but more compact and powerful in stance. Unfortunately that was all we got to see that day, but now the might of Grecale has been fully revealed and the true nature of the design language has become clearer — especially with the interior.
With all things Maserati the design nuances are subtly spectacular, but this is the first Maserati to take on the visual cues hinted at in the MC20 supercar, with the “tonsil” directing your attention to the trident in the grill – or frame as Maserati call it — a detail also apparent on the boot and alloys. but more noticeably with the arrangement of the lights. It has a similar construction to the MC20 with the low grill and the high mounted headlights, but the upper part rising to the bonnet is pure sculpture and the lower part is all about performance.
“It’s all about purity, and only using the bare minimum, but making sure those areas are really dedicated towards performance.”
— Klaus Busse, Maserati Head of Design
That essentially is the story of Grecale, a balance of opposites, bringing two worlds together; the world Maserati is renown for, Italian creativity, high-end materials, beautiful leathers, and a new, connected technological one, where old materials and new ideas combine organically in the interior.
One such example is the audio Sonus Faber audio system; made bespoke by local Italian high-end audio manufacturer, the system used in the MC20 was awarded the Best Car Premium audio system in 2021. A single glass pane central cluster, revamped digital clock which doubles up as focal point for Maserati’s voice activated systems along many other innovative features complete the interior.
Back outside, the body is a sculptural design, with flush door hands that don’t require any lines or decoration. With the rear, once again, history informs the future, as the Bomerang style lights on the rear are echoes of the Giugiaro designed lights on the 3200 GT from years gone by.
Performance wise, the Grecale is everything you hoped for and expect from a Maserati, with the Trofeo V6 model boasting a 0-60 of 3.8seconds and a top speed of near 180mph.
Developed with an electric future in mind, the Grecale is as much a car for tomorrow as it is for today. Maserati have announced that their first fully electric car will be the new GranTurismo in 2023, but shortly after that next fully electric Maserati will be the Grecale Folgore making it the first full-electric Maserati SUV in history; a landmark moment.
I’ll be getting behind the wheel soon to give you my full driven verdict drive but for now the best way I can describe the Grecale is a “Coupé SUV”; and a very, very good looking one at that.
The new Maserati Grecale SUV is available in the GT version, equipped with a four-cylinder mild hybrid engine capable of 300 hp, in the Modena with a four-cylinder 330-hp mild hybrid engine, and in the high-performance Trofeo with a 530-hp V6. At launch, the Grecale is also available in the PrimaSerie Launch Edition, a limited edition featuring exclusive content.
