Maserati’s mighty MC20 has landed

Saturday, 14 May 2022

This is the MC20, a 470kW return to form for Maserati.

The mighty Maserati MC20 has landed in New Zealand, a 470kW/730Nm monster and the brand's first proper supercar in two decades.

Shown off at Winger Maserati in Newmarket, Auckland, the MC20 looked gorgeous in the new ‘Blu Infinito’ paint job. It looks even better in the metal than in photos, and it looks pretty stunning online.

The nose is quite reminiscent of the old MC12 supercar, and while that car shared DNA with the Enzo Ferrari, the MC20 is all Maserati.

The Maserati MC20 is here, and looking absolutely gorgeous.

Power comes from a brand new twin-turbo 3.0-litre V6 called Nettuno, and features a dry sump, twin-spark and pre-chamber ignition system, along with a twin-injection fuel system. According to the company, that pre-chamber combustion system is derived from Formula 1 and is the first time a road car has used the technology.

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The Nettuno engine is fresh, and all Maserati. No Ferrari here.

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Strangely, the turbos dominate most of the noise in the cabin. They sound great, though.

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The cabin isn’t exploding with screens or carbon fibre, which is refreshing.

It seems to work too, as the MC20 will break 100km/h in a claimed 2.8 seconds, and 200km/h in under nine seconds. Just a V6, you were saying?

Actually, a quick note there, Maserati will build an all-electric MC20. Whether it will beat the Tesla Roadster 2.0 to production or not is another question, but with a potentially funny answer.

Around 100 parts of the engine are hand-built in the final hours of production, to ensure everything is exactly to specification. It also ensures a degree of exclusivity, as Maserati’s factory can only produce four MC20 engines per day.

Additionally, while the upcoming Grecale SUV will use the Nettuno as well in the Trofeo version, it will get a lower-spec version of the engine, without things like the dry sump and hand-built parts.

There’s a newly developed eight-speed dual-clutch automatic, a slew of drive modes that are basically Sport, Sportier, Sportiest but with nicer names (and Wet), and a carbon chassis that includes the epic butterfly doors. Total weight is a claimed 1475kg.

After the presentation, Maserati was kind enough to take me for a quick drive in the MC20, around from the showroom to Cornwall Park for a photo session.

From the passengers seat, the supercar is surprisingly restrained. The interior doesn’t blow you away with technology or exposed carbon fibre or mechanical linkages. Which, to be honest, is quite nice. It’s simple and functional while still retaining a healthy level of luxury.

But the sound is something else. You might expect the Italian birthplace to indicate a screaming engine, but the MC20’s aural calling card is actually the turbocharger noise.

Each turbo is right behind the cabin, and they’re fantastically vocal. We didn’t get the opportunity to really let them spool up, but I’d imagine they would be quite loud when allowed to stretch out a bit.

Hopefully we’ll soon have the chance to see what the Nettuno is capable of…