With an electrified future, much will be missed about Maseratis of yesteryear.
It has been revealed that Maserati’s future line-up of vehicles will be using electric power, a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles‘ (FCA) plan to have over half of its fleet electrified by 2022.
The change is set to begin in 2020 with Maserati planning to launch an EV, two-seaterversion of their Alfieri conept that is scheduled for showrooms in 2019, starting out with a V6 engine.
However, this news makes us sad as petrol powered Maserati’s have always been full of passion and charm.
So here is what we’ll miss about fuel burning Maseratis.
Hands down one of the best sounding V8s to be produced, the Ferrari sourced 4.2-litre (also bored out to 4.7-litres) unit gave all car enthusiasts an ear-gasm when revved hard.
Even their twin-turbo V6 and down-sized V8 engines still offered an exhaust note that will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.
The silent whoosh of a hybrid won’t be able to replace the burble of a V8.
While in more recent years Maserati has been focusing on its sedans and Levante SUV, it was once a company that stood out from the crowd by creating breathtakingly unique cars throughout the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s before giving the world cars it didn’t need during the ’80s (Bi-turbo anyone?).
However, this was a part of the brand’s charm (especially the questionable reliability) – and the fact it almost destroyed the trident on a few occasions just shows how daring the Modena company was.
Now that the manufacturer is set to become purely electric and hybrid powered, Maserati will not only lose its unique powerplants, but also runs the risk of becoming a brand that has no point of difference.
Maserati hasn’t produced a supercar since the MC12 (a reskinned Ferrari Enzo) back in 2005.
For a short time, there were rumours that Maserati would create the MC12’s successor by using Ferrari’s LaFerrari hypercar, but nothing became of that.
Petrol powered supercars will soon become a rarity, so the days of Maserati creating an outrageous V12 supercar are over, which is a pity seeing that the company was built around racing and offered an alternative to Ferrari and Lamborghini.
This article originally appeared on CarsGuide.
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