Maserati is famous for its expensive and luxurious sports cars, but this does not mean that the company is not going to explore the possibility of rolling out an electric vehicle. In fact, we have caught whiff of news that Maserati could jolly well jump into the electric car market by the time 2020 rolls around, if not earlier.
This is a surprising turn, but not something that will make the entire industry stop in its steps. After all, it does make plenty of sense for the Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer to delve into the world of electric vehicles, as other players have also taken a similar step forward. With their wealthy clientele more than ready to spring open their cheque books for each new model, an electric supercar might jolly well tempt them to do the same, too. At least Maserati is not too late into the game, but will the million dollar question would be: is it going to be a game changer?
Probably not, although it does offer another expensive alternative to the rich and famous. Maserati’s engineering lead Roberto Fedeli did inform Car and Driver that Maserati is not too worried about being first off the blocks for something or being an early adopter, but is more focused on making sure that they get the job done far better compared to the rest of the market or competition.
Fedeli mentioned, “We will be last (with a production EV), and we have to arrive to the market with something different. Very different.” Fedeli mused further, “A Tesla fighter probably [is] not a good idea. I don’t think that Tesla is the best product in the market but they are doing 50,000 cars a year. The execution and quality of the products of Tesla are the same as a German OEM in the 1970s. Their solutions are not the best.” This will signal the fact that Maserati is going to forge new grounds on their own, and one does not have to worry about the Italian company churning out a copycat model that might seem as though it has rolled off from Tesla’s production lines instead. We do wonder whether Tesla owner Elon Musk has some choice words to say about Fedeli’s statement, or will he continue to let his vehicles do the talking.
Just what will Maserati do that is different when it comes to delivering an all new electric car that is a class beater across the board? Fedeli stressed that the main point would be to make the electric Maserati feel as though it is a Maserati -- separate from being another generic vehicle with a Maserati badge slapped upon it. One of the features that is common to all electric sports cars these days include acceleration for three seconds, tops, and that’s that, which is something that Maserati would like to change.
At the end of the day, the Maserati electric car should not only be sporty, it must also be green and efficient in nature. Well, there aren’t too many years before the 2020 deadline rolls around, so hopefully Fedeli and his gang have something on the drawing board already.
