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- Maserati expands its MC20 supercar portfolio by adding a light-shifting glass folding hardtop derivative.
- It might share a nameplate with your uncle's Daewoo from back in the day, but it's named after the sky.
- No firm price or ETA from Maserati SA. We expect it to retail for around R7 million in base trim by the time it arrives in 2023.
- For motoring news, go to Wheels24
Football icon David Beckham was one of the first petrolheads to take delivery of the gorgeous Maserati MC20 supercar. The Miami-based soccer team owner has customised his vehicle with bespoke paint and a tailor-made interior. However, Becks' car can't do what the new MC20 Cielo can do - go topless.
This week, Maserati raised the curtain on its new drop-top supercar, the MC20 Cielo. The word Cielo means sky in Italian, and to this end, the car company delivered the new road rocket to its launch venue in Modena using a helicopter.
MC20 Cielo features a three-piece folding roof made of trick glass polymers that can change its UV-reflection capabilities at the flick of a switch. If you feel that it's too bright in the cabin with the roof up, simply swipe the 'sunroof' control to darken the shade of the glass panel roof. Despite its high-tech construction, going topless hasn't added too might weight as the MC20 Cielo tips the scales around 1500kg.
Powered by the force of Neptune
Breaking new ground in supercars for small displacement powerplants, the MC20's twin-turbo V6 F1-derived engine offers one of the highest specific outputs compared with capacity. Its 3.0-litre mill generates 463kW of power and 750Nm of torque. This is the motivation you usually get from a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8.
READ: Ciao bella! Maserati has built the baby SUV that Ferrari won't: Meet the new Grecale
The shunt blasts to the rear wheels via an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission explicitly built for this car. The MC20 has also been developed in collaboration with Dallara, situated down the road from Maserati's research and development proving ground, located in Varano de Melagari in Italy.
I had a chance to visit the Maserati and the Dallara facilities before the world was turned on its head with global lockdowns and saw first-hand how much of investment capital went in to ensure this car could punch with the best from Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche.
It's made for roof-down mayhem
Thousands of hours of mechanical testing, and even more than that in simulators and wind testing, ensure that the MC20 Cielo won't blow your top-hat away when you drive it with the roof down.
It's packed with high-end features such as a Sonus Faber audio system trimmed in the finest leather and materials. It also comes with exquisite detailing highlighted when you lower the roof. Of course, lowering the roof also allows you to hear the Nettuno V6 sing.
You might expect a less rigid construction, but Maserati promises that the vehicle's carbon fibre backbone and its blend of exotic metals for key chassis components ensure an as-rigid platform as the hardtop model.
Maserati did not mention the MC20's sprint capabilities or its top speed at the vehicle's unveiling, but we expect it to hit 100km/h from a standstill in 3 seconds. The hardtop takes 2.9 seconds. Top speed, well, you can tell us when you buy yours - as it's built to fly beyond 335km/h.
Oh, and what's the price for this exquisiteness that puts you in a league of David Beckham and friends? Bring your millions (around 7 of them or more) if you want to order one from Maserati South Africa. And if the MC20 Cielo is not for you and you still want to drive a new Maserati in 2023, you can consider the forthcoming Grecale SUV.
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