Maserati Officially Launches New Trident Era With 2021 MC20

Fans have been growing long in the teeth waiting for the MC20 but now the wait is over, and there are reasons to say it was all worth it – at least judging from the first impressions triggered by the stylish design and from sifting through the official technical details.

Maserati presented the new MC20 (aka “Maserati Corse 2020”) at home in Modena to make sure everyone understands the company is really entering a new era where everything is “100% Made in Modena and 100% Made in Italy.” Hopefully, it will not remain a singularity and other models will follow suit – perhaps future iterations of the Trofeo line if we are allowed to give some advice.

The 2021 Maserati MC20 kickstarts this new age for the Trident company with an elegant, sporty, and highly aerodynamic design that blends elements from the historic past with features reserved for the near future. According to the company, the design of the car was completed in just 24 months as Maserati used a novel approach to the development process that included a joint task force made up of designers from the Maserati Style Centre, engineers from the Maserati Innovation Lab, and also specialists from the Maserati Engine Lab.

The Italian automaker also deployed a new Virtual Vehicle Dynamics Development system, an innovative way of approaching the process via the use of an advanced dynamic simulators based on feature-rich mathematical model the Maserati Innovation Lab team dubbed as the “Virtual Car.” This allowed for optimized development times for the dynamic testing part, with only the fine-tuning portion actually taking place in a traditional way on the open roads and the most demanding track sessions.

One can easily spot the company’s rich historic identity in terms of styling, though Maserati also wanted to make sure no one mistakes the MC20 for a vintage supercar. As such, they made sure its personality exudes performance, with an emphasis on details – such as the butterfly doors not only serving as a visual hook, but also having their own specific purpose in terms of ergonomically allowing for an improved access to the cockpit.

As far as aerodynamic specifics are concerned, the brand called for some help from Dallara, with the chassis honed through a process that included 3,000 hours of intensive work – 1k of them spent in front of computers for CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) simulations, and the rest in the Dallara wind tunnel.

The result is both elegant, simple, and highly functional – a huge Trident badge up front, horizontally-swept LED headlights, exposed carbon-fiber parts and a quite discreet rear spoiler tasked with improving downforce. Best of all, the brand is letting us know the development process has taken into consideration from the get-go the implications of turning the MC20 into a convertible and a fully-fledged EV later down the line.

Maserati says it hasn’t forgotten its forebear, the MC12, linking the MC20 to the 2004 supercar with visual connections and the decision to fully support a racing comeback – so fans can already prepare their paddocks for the upcoming track iterations.

We also say the new model looks great in its exclusive new launch color, part of the new roster that was specifically developed for the model: Bianco Audace, Giallo Genio, Rosso Vincente, Blu Infinito, Nero Enigma and Grigio Mistero.

Underneath all the metal lies a completely new soul, the previously introduced Nettuno engine. It arrives as a 3.0-liter twin turbo V6 with a Maserati-patented MTC (Maserati Twin Combustion) technology that develops 630 PS (620 hp) and 730 Nm (538 lb. ft.), enough for a sprint to 62 mph (100 kph) in less than 2.9 seconds and a maximum speed of more than 202 mph (325 kph).

With a weight of just 1,500 kg (3,307 lbs.), the 2021 Maserati MC20 is a true supercar with a 2.33 kg / hp weight-to-power ratio – a good sign for the brand’s first internally-developed engine in more than two decades.

Inside the cockpit, the carmaker put the person behind the wheel front and center – the MC20 is a modern driver’s machine that relies on a minimalist setup with lots of carbon fiber, Alcantara and blue-accented leather. Technology is also a major part of the package, with a couple of 10-inch displays taking care of virtually everything – from showcasing the instrument cluster to enabling the interface of the Maserati Touch Control Plus (MTC Plus MIA).

There are also very few actual controls: a driving mode selector (GT, Wet, Sport, Corsa, and ESC Off), a couple of selection buttons, and the infotainment system controls. The rest are located on the sporty steering wheel, including the start / stop button on the left and the launch control on the other side.

The automaker has announced the MC20 will be produced at the historic location of Viale Ciro Menotti on a new assembly line that was created to occupy the space previously used for the manufacturing of the discontinued (from November last year) GranTurismo and GranCabrio models. Assembly will kick off before the end of the year and order books have been opened immediately after the world premiere.