Can Maserati really put the wind up the Porsche Macan in the sporting mid-size SUV stakes? If it can, this is the car to do it. It’s the new Maserati Grecale, confirmed now for a premiere this year and shown here in blurry pictures of a prototype outside the factory in Modena.
New Maserati Grecale SUV teased
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The baby Levante is named after a wind (yes, another one!) and, keeping to marque heritage, is expected to put big emphasis on performance and luxury along with its all-Italian credentials. It uses a version of the Alfa Romeo Stelvio’s platform and will be built in the Stelvio plant in Cassino.
The Grecale will have its own unique Maserati body and drivetrain. What will it look like? We can’t tell much about its design from these Maserati-provided teaser shots. But the stance definitely looks strong, for perhaps a more planted look than its Alfa compatriot.
Big air inlets at the front and slender LED lights feature, and we can expect a rounded roofline and muscular haunches, plus a glasshouse that echoes the shape of the larger Levante – all these things were hinted at by the last Grecale teaser images, shown at the MC20 supercar’s unveiling last September.
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Under the bonnet? It’s sure to be a Maserati engine and while no confirmation yet, favourite has to be a version of the new Nettuno 3.0-litre V6, Maserati’s first in-house engine for 20 years and already confirmed for the brand’s new hero model, the MC20.
The twin-turbo, quad-cam, twin-plug and dry sump motor gives as much as 630PS (463kW) in the MC20, and power of that order will be important in getting one over the Grecale’s big-power SUV rivals from Germany as well as giving it bragging rights over the top Stelvio Quadrifoglio, which has 510PS (375kW). We can’t see Maserati not expecting the Grecale to out-pace the Stelvio (which in 2017 became world’s fastest SUV with a ‘Ring time 7 minutes 51.7 seconds) can you?
Just as important is the fact that the Nettuno V6 has been developed to be electrified. A hybrid Grecale is a cert, a pure-electric one on the cards, too.
Maserati’s model range has been blowing hot and cold in recent years but with the Grecale (it’s a fierce easterly wind in the Mediterranean) joining the Levante and coming new GranTurismo and GranCabrio (both of which will have electric versions) under the umbrella of the gloriously back-to-form 200mph MC20 supercar, it is perhaps a fair wind now blowing down the Viale Ciro Menotti in Modena.
