Maserati has officially cancelled plans for an electric MC20 — not that many people will miss it.
Five years ago, when Maserati first announced its MC20 halo car, it announced an electric “Folgore” version would launch as a complement to the gas-powered sports car. Zooming out a bit, the idea was to transition the brand away from internal combustion by the end of the decade and sell a fully electric portfolio instead. While the MC20 Folgore was finally supposed to launch this year, Maserati has a change of plans — and that includes dropping the electric version altogether.
Autocar originally noted the rumblings of the Folgore’s demise, and Maserati came out and actually confirmed it this week. You can probably guess why: In brief, most people buying an exotic sports car don’t want to go electric. In its announcement on the matter, Maserati noted that market studies and its own customers revealed “they are very keen on driving powerful ICE engines” and are “not ready to switch to battery-electric vehicles for the foreseeable future”.
Translated: They asked their customers if they really wanted an electric MC20, and their customers said, “Hell no!”.
That’s not much of a shocker, but it’s also not the only reason Maserati is scrapping plans for the MC20 Folgore. Maserati is having a rocky period in terms of sales, which fell by more than half last year to around 11,300 cars. As a result, the brand also lost €260 million (or about $280 million) just one year after it posted more than $150 million in profits.
Overall, Maserati’s profits broadly mirrored parent company Stellantis’ fortunes as a whole. Among the major automakers, its profits plunged by a whopping 70% last year, leading it to write off a $1.5 billion investment in Maserati. Now, the company does still have three Folgore EVs under the Grecale, GranTurismo and GranCabrio nameplates, but that is a far cry from its original ambitions. Up until this point, the Quattroporte Folgore sedan has been delayed until 2028, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see the brand ax that model as well.
What of the MC20’s future then? Well, while Stellantis pulling investment is concerning for folks wondering about the brand’s future, Maserati’s answer effectively focuses on giving the customers what they actually want. So, we could see an updated version of the gas-powered MC20, building on recent momentum from Maserati’s debut of the GT2 Stradale.
