The Maserati GranTurismo has been with us since 2008 and is certainly showing its age against more modern rivals such as the Aston Martin DB11 and Mercedes-Benz S-Class Coupe.
During Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ 5-year strategy announcement in May 2014, CEO Sergio Marchionne said Maserati would redesign the GranTurismo as well as launch an all-new sports car based on 2014’s Alfieri concept car.
Both were promised for launch by the end of calendar year 2018, but both have since been delayed.
Instead, Maserati has given its GranTurismo a refresh for 2018. As for the Alfieri sports car, Maserati is debating whether to turn it into a pure electric tech halo.
CAR reports that a redesigned GranTurismo won’t arrive until calendar year 2019. The good news is that Maserati will offer coupe and convertible versions of the next-gen model, the automaker’s European boss, Giulio Pastore, has confirmed. Under previous plans, the current GranTurismo Convertible was to be phased out to make way for a convertible version of the Alfieri sports car.
Speaking of the Alfieri sports car, it’s not likely to arrive until 2020—at the earliest.
Why all the delays? The main reason is the need to develop a new platform. Maserati engineer Davide Danesin revealed in 2016 that performance-oriented cars like the Alfieri sports car and GranTurismo can’t simply ride on the platform found in the Ghibli and Quattroporte. He said they need to be lighter, have a lower center of gravity and lower mounting of the engine. He also mentioned moving the front wheel assembly forward to allow that classic sports car proportion of a long hood and cabin over the rear wheels.
