Drop-top version of Maserati’s MC20 supercar hits the road in prototype form ahead of expected debut next year.
Maserati is pushing forward with its new model rollout, teasing another model due to arrive in 2022 alongside the Grecale SUV, GranTurismo GT and GranCabrio convertible.
The recently launched MC20 supercar is likely to be joined by a convertible version next year, and Maserati has released the first official images of the Lamborghini Huracan EVO Spyder rival.
Captioned “An early prototype of the new MC20 convertible has exited the gates of our Modena plant” , the new images show the MC20 in typical prototype camouflage wrapping. We can see that the roof is a hard top, suggesting it’ll have a similar folding metal roof arrangement to cars such as the Ferrari F8 Spider and McLaren 600LT Spider.
Elsewhere, there seems to be little visual difference between the already revealed coupe and this drop-top version. It is also unclear if it will simply be dubbed ‘convertible’ or if it will adopt the ‘Spider’ nameplate.
Expect to see the price increase somewhat over the $438,000 before on-road costs figure for the MC20 coupe in Australia. Weight will likely increase over the 1475kg figure quoted for the coupe on account of the complex roof mechanism.
We’re expecting to see the MC20 convertible arrive with the same mid-mounted 463kW ‘Nettuno’ twin-turbo V6 as the coupe. That should make it capable of 0-100km/h in around three seconds, although it remains to be seen if the 325km/h top speed of the coupe will be reduced by the folding roof.
However, unlike the majority of Maserati’s rivals, the brand also intends to launch a fully electric version of the MC20 in due course. It was also due to launch in 2022, but it’s unclear if this has been pushed back due to the same pandemic and chip shortage-related delays that pushed back the launch of the Grecale.
Lawrence Allan