on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Maserati Tridente by Vita Power First, Um, Cruise Review: Today on Aquablog

LAKE MAGGIORE, Italy — MaseratiÂ’s Trident logo gets three-pronged inspiration from the famous fountain of Neptune in Bologna, where the automaker got its start in 1914 before packing up and moving to Modena. And a symbol that denotes mastery over the water is appropriate for the all-electric motorboat that floats us in style around ItalyÂ’s Lake Maggiore. Beckoning dockside, the Tridente is a 10.5-meter superyacht tender, the boat that takes you to a bigger boat. But itÂ’s also fine for swanky solo cruises on lakes or ocean coasts, with a roughly 50- to 70-kilometer range (31 to 43 miles). The design collaboration between Maserati and Vita Power, a marine tech company founded in 2017, features a fast DC charging system that Vita claims as an industry first. To make that practical, Vita has been creating charging infrastructure in key locales, including along the French Riviera, San Francisco Bay, New York and a plug here in Lake Maggiore, about an hour north of Milan. We hop aboard the Tridente, the aforementioned logo emblazoned on a bow deck formed from ribbed composite. The molto bene motorboat features a carbon-fiber hull that helps hold a total weight around 5 tons. As with automobiles, thatÂ’s decisively more mass than a comparable ICE-powered boat, thanks to a 250-kilowatt-hour battery pack thatÂ’s big enough to make a Hummer EV blush. We depart the dock and head for Isola Bella, an island that floats a 17th-century palazzo — a summer home for the aristocratic House of Borromeo, which produced several cardinals and one pope — and a baroque Italian garden of over-the-top splendor. I take a spot on a wide, comfy daybed near the stern, and experience the key talking point of any electric watercraft: A welcome lack of diesel or gasoline stink wafting over passengers — notoriously amplified should one experience seasickness — and the ability to hold a conversation without shouting over an ear-rending marine ICE powertrain. Of course, that also means no rainbow petroleum slicks floating in your wake and despoiling the marine environment. Our pilot makes sure IÂ’m hanging on before he punches the throttle, backed by a pair of generous screens that display everything from nav charts to Netflix. Despite its weight, the Tridente proves a punchy beast. A twin-prop arrangement and proprietary control software allows anywhere from 100 to 600 horsepower.

Maserati and Zegna to roll out limited-edition Quattroporte in Frankfurt

Back in April, Maserati announced a new partnership with men's clothier Ermenegildo Zegna. We wondered at the time how a Maserati could possibly get any more stereotypically Italian stylish, but now the Modenese automaker is presenting the answer in this fresh take on the new Quattroporte.
When the doors open at the Frankfurt Motor Show next week, Maserati will unveil the Quattroporte Ermenegildo Zegna Limited Edition concept car. That's their name, not ours, and if you're wondering how a production vehicle could be turned at once into both a concept and a limited edition, well... we don't know, either. Maserati says that it previews a production version to follow next year.
So, confusing nomenclature aside, what are we looking at here? For starters, there's a special platinum-color paint finish with tiny aluminum flecks and a gloss-black primer to give it that extra-deep luster. And the interior has been upholstered in "moka" and "greige," with leather seats, door panels and headliner and other surfaces finished in Zegna's own textiles.

Maserati MC20 appears in artsy, blurry teaser

Maserati said it's entering a new era. Judging by these teaser shots of the a camouflaged MC20 prototype supercar, it's clear Maserati plans to strut its way into that new era con il coraggio and braggadocio. Maserati took its future flagship to the Piazza degli Affari in Milan, for a set of mostly blurry photos in front of Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan's sculpture called "L.O.V.E." Maserati called the artwork "a symbol of Italian audacity in international contemporary art," for the sake of clarity, we'll call it a giant marble bird flipped at anyone who might ask, "You talkin' to me?" The MC20 is thought to be built around the carbon chassis laid up for the 4C, stretched lengthwise and across to create an overall larger package. We can't tell much about the real masterpiece in the photos, but it is clear the MC20 prototype has shed its gawky bodywork borrowed from the Alfa Romeo 4C to slip into something more comfortable. A very Maserati nose leads with a large grille and sits prominently ahead of the other bodywork. Behind that, an Italianate supercar form combines plenty of intakes, deep side skirts, a seamless rake to the backlight, and a short rear overhang. In back, powertrains developed at Maserati and for Maserati should make all sorts of lusty noises. The top powertrain is expected to be a hybrid V6 with three electric motors and around 600 horsepower, there's hearsay about an all-electric model, and rumors of a turbocharged V8 won't die. The only gearbox mentioned so far is an eight-speed dual-clutch shooting power to the rear wheels. Autoevolution believes the hybrid engine will translate into a sprint to 62 miles per hour in around two seconds and a top speed beyond 186 miles per hour, just the kind of giddy-up one would expect from a challenger aimed at the Lamborghini Huracan Evo. If anything, 600 hp sounds conservative seeing as the Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA gets 540 hp from its 2.9-liter turbocharged V6 without electric help. The MC20 will take on Lamborghini's championship-winning finest on the track, too, the MC20 — for Maserati Corse 2020 — surely headed for an FIA entry in track-only form. For now, the MC20 continues its driving program to prepare for its debut in May. The coupe version should come first, going on sale in Europe late this year and in the U.S. sometime next year, followed by a convertible variant.