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Lazareth LM847 packs a Maserati V8 into a leaning quad frame

You want to know what insanity looks like? This is it. It's called the Lazareth LM847, and to boil it down to its essence, it's basically a sport bike built around a Maserati V8. Now this isn't the first motorcycle we've seen packing a giant car engine. There've been more custom jobs than we could list here, and of course there's the Boss Hoss – an American cruiser with a 5.7-liter Chevy V8 at its heart. And we'd be loathe to leave out the V10-powered Tomahawk concept from this discussion. But this is another matter entirely. The LM847 is made by a French outfit called Lazareth. It's the same company responsible for the Wazuma quad bike, the Wazuma GT roadster, and that bonkers Renault Twingo with the Range Rover V8 in the back. In other words, Lazareth knows crazy, and hasn't skimped on it this time. For its latest project, Lazareth started with a 4.7-liter V8 – the kind you used to find the Quattroporte or Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione before Maserati started downsizing and bolting on turbos. It produces 470 horsepower and 457 pound-feet of torque, channeled through a single-speed hydraulic coupling in place of a multi-gear transmission. Strictly speaking, it's not a motorcycle, but a quad – owing to the tandem wheels at each end. But it has a saddle and handlebars, and looks like it would lean in a fair bit in the turns. We're not about to find out though, because we don't have a death wish. Related Video:

Maserati teases all-electric 2022 GranTurismo prototype

Maserati trotted out an early prototype of the 2022 GranTurismo this week, teasing the all-electric replacement for its long-running luxury coupe. The spy-style photographs were shot around the streets of Modena, near the automaker's Innovation Lab, Maserati said in the announcement accompanying the shots. The previous-generation GranTurismo was in production for 12 years before finally retiring in 2019.  The new GranTurismo and its drop-top counterpart, the GranCabrio, have been in development since 2019, but it wasn't until more recently that Maserati confirmed that the next-gen two-doors would spearhead (trident-head?) the company's electrification push. We expect it to borrow from Maserati's upcoming Folgore powertrain which can be configured with up to three electric motors for both all-wheel drive and torque vectoring.  "Going electric is the next logical step. We are trying to avoid unnecessary air openings and air outlets, in contrast to some of our competitors that seem to depend on them to convey a message," explained Maserati head of design Klaus Busse in a previous interview with Autoblog. "In our case, it's about the purity of the body. We can further purify the car by reducing the amount of air intakes and air outlets, which will help us tell the design story even better." We expect to learn details of the all-electric GranTurismo later this year.  Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

2017 Maserati Levante is somewhere under all that cladding

There's an influx of crossovers coming from high-end European marques in the coming years – and we've already seen most of them in one form or another. One of the few exceptions is the forthcoming Maserati Levante, and if you can believe it, this is the best look we've had at it yet. Like the Bentayga for Bentley, the F-Pace for Jaguar, the DBX for Aston Martin, or the Urus for Lamborghini, the Levante will be Maserati's first crossover. It was previewed by the Kubang concepts of 2003 and 2011, but the closest we've gotten to the finished product so far has been some test mules running under modified Ghibli sedan bodywork and a series of purported patent drawings. Mind you, these spy shots don't show us a whole heck of a lot either, as heavily camouflaged and cladded as this prototype is. But under all that padding is what appears to be the bodywork that we'll be seeing on the production version once it makes its debut sometime next year. Look for the Ghibli's twin-turbo V6 engines to propel Maserati head-first into new territory, and likely pave the way for an Alfa Romeo crossover to follow. All we can see for the time being, really, are the exposed wheels. But if those giant brake discs filling their spokes are anything to go by, the Levante ought to represent the Modenese automaker well in what's becoming an ever-pricier, more performance-focused, and more competitive market segment. Porsche and its trendsetting Cayenne ought to take notice. Related Video: