Latest news with #SantoFicili
Auto Blog
11 hours ago
- Automotive
- Auto Blog
Maserati Is Seriously Considering A Manual Supercar With Zero Electrification
By signing up I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . You may unsubscribe from email communication at anytime. The Trident Wants To Transcend Tiers I don't know about you, but when I heard that Maserati would be applying the MC-double-digit naming strategy to a new car, I was expecting something as legendary as the MC12, a car that was even more capable on track than the exceptional Enzo upon which it was based. But building a competitive new hypercar of that caliber was too expensive, so instead, Maserati went its own way with the development of the technical marvel that is the Nettuno V6 and the MC20 in which it first found a home (now the MCPura). The engine has since been democratized across Maserati's range, and with both the basic chassis and engine there for Turin's taking, Alfa Romeo created a more exclusive supercar called the 33 Stradale. As collaborative the ties between Stellantis' Italian brands to date, they'll be strengthened next year with a potential flagship GT supercar for Maserati, reports Autocar. Oh, and this will probably have a manual transmission. Maserati Seems To Know What The Market Wants Source: Adam Lynton/Autoblog Santo Ficili, CEO of both Maserati and Alfa Romeo, told the publication, 'We have infinite possibilities to customize products for our customers, for the entire range of Maserati. I'm imagining [doing] something like we did in the past, also considering Alfa Romeo.' Ficili reportedly drew attention to the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione with its Maserati GranTurismo underpinnings and side-by-side manufacture at Maserati's facility in Modena. The 4C was also produced there, and a 2023 report following an Autocar interview with Alfa's head of strategic projects revealed that Alfa will unveil a second low-volume supercar in 2026. Do you see where this is going? Ficili wants the pair to collaborate again, and with the MCPura only just arriving at Goodwood earlier this month, it's time to look upmarket to rebuild Maserati's brand credentials. 20+ years on from the MC12, Maserati has the wherewithal to step up to the ultra-low-volume segment once more. 'Why not?' said Ficiili to the prospect of another tie-up. 'We can imagine a 'few-off' Maserati. It's easy, because you can look at the past of these two brands, and you can find a nice car like the 33 Stradale, and we can invent something like this.' Engagement Over Electrification Source: Maserati Maserati's engineering boss, Davide Danesin said that hybrids are still too compromised for some drivers. 'There are still customers looking for pure mechanical cars,' he said, adding that they have a 'bad feeling' about taking on the extra complexity and weight that comes with electrification. The 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 and its efficient prechamber ignition technology can remain compliant with Euro 7 regulations, despite delivering 207.6 horsepower per liter, and we can expect a low-volume car to up the ante (even though the 33 Stradale stuck to 620 hp). But hopefully not too much – Danesin imagines three pedals in the driver footwell. Autoblog Newsletter Autoblog brings you car news; expert reviews and exciting pictures and video. Research and compare vehicles, too. Sign up or sign in with Google Facebook Microsoft Apple By signing up I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . You may unsubscribe from email communication at anytime. 'A manual gearbox is an opportunity. I don't see that in big series [production], but why not do a special version with a manual gearbox? No reason to say never. It could be the right choice for a limited edition of a car. […] By doing a purely mechanical car, it does make sense to have a mechanical gearbox with a shifter. So why not? It fulfils perfectly the brand. It fulfils perfectly our approach and the mindset. So honestly, I think one day we'll do it.' Final Thoughts Source: ClassicheMasters/Bring a Trailer Whatever form the new Maserati will take, it'll be more luxurious, more powerful, and more expensive, likely exceeding $300,000. Then again, the price could get much higher if the volumes are small enough; the 33 Stradale reportedly cost buyers around $1.9 million, according to Top Gear. In summary, keep an eye out for a low-volume Alfa next year, and then try to imagine what the same thing would look like in Maserati clothing. Something like that could follow by the end of 2026. A6GCS Berlinetta? Mistral? Bora? Merak? Maserati has a rich back catalog to choose from… About the Author Sebastian Cenizo View Profile
Auto Car
a day ago
- Automotive
- Auto Car
New Maserati flagship could get V6 and MANUAL gearbox!
Maserati and Alfa boss reveals plan for two firms to collaborate once again on a limited-run supercar Close News Maserati is considering a new flagship super-GT with V6 power and a manual gearbox as part of a drive to emphasise its sporting heritage and strengthen the brand's luxury credentials. Set to be a limited-run creation, the new top-rung Maserati could be launched as early as next year as the most exclusive and powerful combustion-engined car the firm has produced since the MC12 landed two decades ago. It is tipped to be based on the Granturismo and will be twinned with an equivalent Alfa Romeo model, similar to the way in which the new Alfa 33 Stradale is based on Maserati's MC20. Speaking to Autocar at the Goodwood Festival of Speed earlier this month, Santo Ficili, who is CEO of both marques, said: 'We have infinite possibilities to customise products for our customers, for the entire range of Maserati. I'm imagining to do something like we did in the past, also considering Alfa Romeo.' Ficili referenced previous collaborations between the two firms, highlighting that the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione was based on the previous Maserati Granturismo and built alongside that car at Maserati's plant in Modena, where the later 4C sports coupé was also produced. More recently, Alfa Romeo turned to Maserati to provide the basis for the new 33 Stradale supercar, which shares its basic monocoque chassis and twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 engine with the mid-engined MC20 (now rebadged MCPura). 'We built the 4C and 8C in Modena, so why not?' said Ficili of the prospect of another limited-run supercar tie-up. 'We can imagine a 'few-off' Maserati. It's easy, because you can look at the past of these two brands, and you can find a nice car like the 33 Stradale, and we can invent something like this.' Ficili stopped short of describing in more detail his vision for a new bespoke creation but suggested the aim is to use the new flagship to celebrate Maserati's Nettuno V6 engine, as used in the Granturismo, Grecale and MCPura. 'It's a masterpiece,' he said. It is likely that any V6-powered limited-run special would ramp up the Nettuno's output beyond the 621bhp of the MCPura, in line with a price that would be well in excess of that car's £230,000, but the firm is unlikely to use electrification to achieve that power boost. Maserati engineering boss Davide Danesin said: 'There are still customers looking for pure mechanical cars.' He added that there is a 'bad feeling' about having a battery on board a supercar, due to the heightened complexity and extra weight it brings. The Nettuno's 'super-advanced' pre-chamber combustion technology and twin injection system help to cut emissions and boost performance, he said, and the engine is 'getting to 210hp per litre with very efficient combustion'. That figure is why the MCPura can remain a pure-combustion car and it means Maserati can keep the V6 in production with the same power once Euro 7 regulations are in force. Giving further clues to what a limited-run Maserati supercar could look like, Danesin even dropped a hint that it could reintroduce a manual gearbox to Maserati's ranks for the first time in years. He said: 'A manual gearbox is an opportunity. I don't see that in big series [production], but why not do a special version with a manual gearbox? No reason to say never. It could be the right choice for a limited edition of a car.' He added that a manual gearbox would emphasise the 'pure', analogue ethos of a Maserati supercar. 'By doing a purely mechanical car, it does make sense to have a mechanical gearbox with a shifter,' he said. 'So why not? It fulfils perfectly the brand. It fulfils perfectly our approach and the mindset. So honestly, I think one day we'll do it.' Ficili said he plans to emphasise Maserati's Italian heritage going forward, adding that the company's headquarters in Modena – 'the middle of Motor Valley' – is 'the right place' to build sports cars. The firm will shortly begin production of the Granturismo and Grancabrio at its factory there once again, having built the current generation at Fiat's Mirafiori plant since 2023. Any new V6 special edition will be closely related to those cars. Neither Danesin nor Ficili gave any indication of when this new supercar could break cover, but next year will be the 100th anniversary of the launch of Maserati's first car, the Tipo 26 grand prix racer that won Italy's legendary Targa Florio endurance race on its first competitive outing in 1926. The following year, Alfa Romeo launched the venerable 6C 1500 sports car, which went on to win the Mille Miglia and the Spa 24 Hours. An Alfa Romeo version of Maserati's next limited-run sports car would no doubt celebrate the centenary of that seminal model. Alfa has already confirmed it will reveal a second supercar in 2026 from its new 'Bottega' division for limited-run cars, which launched with the 33 Stradale. Join our WhatsApp community and be the first to read about the latest news and reviews wowing the car world. Our community is the best, easiest and most direct place to tap into the minds of Autocar, and if you join you'll also be treated to unique WhatsApp content. You can leave at any time after joining - check our full privacy policy here. Next Prev In partnership with
Top Gear
15-07-2025
- Automotive
- Top Gear
Alfa Romeo boss: 'Quadrifoglio can be BEV, but it can also be ICE'
Interview CEO Santo Ficili talks to TG about what the future looks like for Alfa Romeo Skip 5 photos in the image carousel and continue reading By law, Alfa articles start with an Italian exclamation. Here goes: mamma mia , the petrol Quadrifoglio lives! Bravissimo ! Etc. Until recently Alfa planned the next Giulia and Stelvio as all electric. Now, CEO Santo Ficili says that's changed. Tariff chaos and a slow in the EV transition mean that flexibility is a must. 'There will be PHEV and HEV and BEV.' He goes on. 'My dream is to keep alive the Quadrifoglio. We can't forget this. Quadrifoglio can be BEV, why not? But it can also be ICE.' Viva V6. Advertisement - Page continues below The electric Alfas will be first, with Stelvio at the end of this year and Giulia next – main versions first then Quadrifoglio. They can have up to 800V for fast charging, big batteries for long range, and rear or twin motors. Ficili says they are having a last minute front end redesign, so they have enough cooling intakes for petrol engines. 'The design must be in line with the other models that we want to launch.' You might like How will Alfa make cars that feel different from the rest of the sprawling Stellantis Group's? 'I think the Alfa Romeo brand is Italy, is red or rosso in Italian, and is sport. Italian. Red. Sport. We need to find the right balance between these three. What I want for the product is Alfa Romeo only.' Design is the first element of this Alfa character, explains Ficili. 'When you look at the car, you must understand immediately it is an Alfa. And the driver must have everything under control. So I'm not imagining tonnes of things around you that don't help. Advertisement - Page continues below 'We need the right balance between suspension, steering, absorption, exhaust and engines to find the right handling of the car.' But there's a problem. Stubbornly low sales. Alfa hyped the Tonale and Junior as sales boosters because small and compact crossovers dominate today's market. But actually Alfa monthly sales are the same as five years ago, when the MiTo and Giulietta were in their death spirals. I mention I've lost count of the number of previous Alfa bosses who said sales would double, only to see them fall. 'We need to keep the customers who are in love with Alfa – and there is a long queue, because of the legacy, the racing, the glory, the product we created in the past.' OK, but why aren't the people in this queue buying your cars? And how do you build buzz for Alfa among people who don't actually know much about all that? 'Junior is the right model to satisfy younger people. A bridge between new customers and the older Alfisti.' He says it's doing well. Meanwhile the Tonale, which started quite strongly then tailed off, will get a deep facelift late this year. Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Look out for your regular round-up of news, reviews and offers in your inbox. Get all the latest news, reviews and exclusives, direct to your inbox. With that and the next Stelvio and Giulia, there'll be a freshness about Alfa's range that it hasn't had for many years. Even so, Alfa will always be small. 'We aren't BMW.' Indeed. BMW, with its much bigger range, sells 20 times as many as Alfa. But then Alfa is just a small part of the huge Stellantis Group and gets lots of synergies. The challenge is to make its cars different from the related brands. To help keep the Alfa flame burning bright, there will be more of the high end specials like the 33 Stradale, once its two-year production run is over. 'If I can also search for synergies with Maserati, we can imagine for sure to make products like this. We had the 8C, 6C, 4C. It's easy. Why? Because I can look in the past of Alfa Romeo.' But it's £1.7m a copy. I mention that if Alfa is making pretty ordinary small crossovers like the Junior, it has to earn the right to its name by also having more distinct cars at a less extreme price than the 33. He says the 33 will be a design influence. 'We can consider parts of this design, and move from these to the future models.' From 1950 to 2010 Alfa made so many gorgeous and relatively affordable coupes and spiders. 'There is space to work in the smaller segments: coupe, spider. But this is not our priority now, because now we need the models that can deliver volume that can sustain the brand.' There's simply too much turbulence, too much uncertainty, to have the luxury of launching minority cars. 'We need to consider the two years ahead that are not so clear. And then we'll see.'
Auto Express
11-06-2025
- Automotive
- Auto Express
New Alfa supercar on the agenda following racing boat tie-up
Alfa Romeo's next supercar has moved a step closer, with a new 'very limited edition' top-end model set to be developed in conjunction with Italian sailing team Luna Rossa, following the announcement of a partnership between the two organisations. 'We will do something bespoke and limited, and also something that touches a higher number of people,' said Alfa Romeo CEO Santo Ficili, opening up the possibility for a Luna Rossa series of special editions of existing models to sit alongside the halo small-volume performance car. 'The DNA of Alfa is doing something hard and limited, and also something broader.' Alfa's chief said the brand would be tapping into Luna Rossa's experience of working with carbon fibre on its America's Cup sailing boats.'We have seen what they can do with lightweight materials,' he said at the announcement of the tie-up, described by Alfa's marketing boss Christiano Fiorio as 'a true technological collaboration'. Advertisement - Article continues below Alfa Romeo has previously stated that it would follow up the 33 Stradale supercar with another model that's due to be seen in 2026 as part of ambitions to develop a series of halo models over the coming years, although details are still scarce. The 33 Stradale was developed in 16 months, and all 33 examples of the 621bhp supercar, estimated to cost around £1.7m, found homes. Ficili's predecessor Jean-Philippe Imparato stated last year that Alfa Romeo would push forward with more low-volume Alfa Romeo halo models. 'I don't have the intention to go back to 500 or 1,000 cars, I want to stay below 100 cars and I want to put in all of the quality and performance features that I need,' he said. Tell us which new car you're interested in and get the very best offers from our network of over 5,500 UK dealers to compare. Let's go… Find a car with the experts Car Deal of the Day: A Volkswagen Golf R Estate for less than a GTI Car Deal of the Day: A Volkswagen Golf R Estate for less than a GTI The Golf R Estate is one of the best performance estates around – and right now it's criminally cheap. It's our Deal of the Day for 9 June. Should Citroen make a new 2CV? Some say oui, others say non Should Citroen make a new 2CV? Some say oui, others say non A new Citroen 2CV could be inbound, but would this be a French fancy or a financial flop? Car Deal of the Day: A fully-loaded Jeep Avenger for under £200 per month Car Deal of the Day: A fully-loaded Jeep Avenger for under £200 per month The petrol-powered version of Jeep's charming baby SUV is our Deal of the Day for 8 June
West Australian
10-06-2025
- Automotive
- West Australian
‘Very powerful' Alfa Romeo special editions coming with Prada input
Alfa Romeo has announced a partnership that its boss says will spawn a series of lighter and 'more powerful' special-edition Quadrifoglio model variants, with the first to be unveiled in early 2026. The unique road cars will come from Alfa Romeo's new technology sharing partnership with Luna Rossa, an Italian challenger for the 38th America's Cup yacht race that's set to take place in Naples, Italy, in 2027. The America's Cup – won by Australia II in 1983 – sees high-tech vessels vie for line honours on the water, in a competition as technically challenging as Formula 1. When asked about whether the technical tie-up between the Italian automaker and Luna Rossa will extend to special-edition road cars, Alfa Romeo CEO Santo Ficili was emphatic that it would. Hundreds of new car deals are available through CarExpert right now. Get the experts on your side and score a great deal. Browse now . 'Yes – the answer is absolutely yes, and there is a lot of excitement about this, because we are working as two teams,' Mr Ficili said during a media call attended by CarExpert. 'The partnership is going to start now, and I believe in the next six to eight months we are going to be really working together – we have started already. 'I believe that Q1 2026 {the first quarter of next year] we would like to start with something we have in our mind – very limited, very powerful – and then we would like to continue.' The Alfa boss added that the special editions will peak – or 'apex', as he called it – around the time of the 2027 America's Cup, which is scheduled to take place between March and August of that year in Naples, where the Alfa Romeo Tonale small SUV is made. He also said the Quadrifoglio name will still hold its place as the halo model grade of the Italian brand's performance vehicle lineup. 'The first thing we are trying to work out together [on] is starting from the Quadrifoglio, which is our top performance brand, to find something that embeds the research of materials that we are doing together,' he said. 'Of course, it has to be something embedded into the Quadrifoglio brand – so it's going to be basically something around Quadrifoglio.' Alfa Romeo currently offers Quadrifoglio versions of its Giulia sedan and Stelvio SUV, which are both at the end of their lifecycles and will be replaced some time next year by hybrid and electric successors. Alfa Romeo's global marketing boss, Cristiano Fiorio, has essentially confirmed ongoing petrol power for the brand after it cancelled plans to go all-electric by 2027 . 'Personally, I do not see a Quadrifoglio EV,' Fiorio said to British publication Autocar earlier this year. And it seems the special editions won't wait for Alfa Romeo's next-generation models, which are due to be outlined when the automaker announces its new strategic plan on June 23. 'The current range – we have to consider Junior [a new small hybrid and electric SUV due in Australia later in 2025], Tonale, Giulia and Stelvio,' said Mr Ficili. 'So, we will start from these four fantastic models we have today in our range, then we will see also in the future, but there is already space to work with the current range of Alfa Romeo.' The centenary of the iconic Italian Mille Miglia – which means 1000 miles – road race will also take place in 2027, and the Luna Rossa team is set to race an Alfa Romeo 1900 SS in this year's historic running for pre-1957 cars. Driving the car during the June 17-21 event will be Italian rally driver – and head of corporate responsibility at fashion brand Prada – Lorenzo Bertelli. 'We are working with the team Luna Rossa and with Lorenzo in order to put all the know-how, the expertise of the design, the speed, the light materials into also some limited-edition cars,' said Mr Ficili.
