Anyone Else Thinking About Getting the New 2021 MC20???

Marc,
at first: I am not yelling to anyone here! Period!
As of your other comments: OK, I might have been wrong here on that toppic. Accepted? Thanks.

 

fyi

 

Walter, so you made a mistake but you have acknowledge it. Don't worry about it. I have made a lot more than you and I am sure that I will make many more. Stay safe and stay well!

 

I like the concept as opposed to the MC-12 which was a halo car and became a hell of a racer but very few bought the street version. I was lucky enough to get a ride in Doug Magnon's (RIP) at the track and following the latest big Corvette of the time which was driven by a friend of mine. It was amazing how effortlessly Doug's MC12 entered and went through the infield portion of the track. That judgement was further confirmed when I later road in the Vette. But it damn well should have given the price. Both were brutally fast cars, my stomach got queasy leaving the pits under maximum acceleration. I also got to see most of the MC12's that came to the USA when they were being federalized at Classic Coach in NJ. They had the place stuffed with them, body parts hanging from the ceiling as then went to work on them. So I got see a lot of stuff all part which was fun and we had a lot of high rollers in the Ferrari club who liked taking their cars to the track back then. JUst about anything was welcomed at Ferrari club track events back then if you were a member and knew the organizers. So we'd see all the Lamborghinis, they were a major sponsor of the Le Belle Machinne d' Italia event back then. Maserati was always welcomed because it was a part of Ferrari either directly or indirectly depending upon the year.

Which leads to my next point which some here may not like. It's been very clear to me for a long, long time that my Maseratis, my first exotic car purchases, have always played second fiddle to Ferrari during those years 1985 - present.

Maserati's glory days of grand prix racing were a long time ago and the subsequent road cars when compared with Ferrari since then were not nearly as voluminous especially the custom body cars that we all now see restored to a perfection way beyond the quality of original manufacture. A problem/condition present in almost all the cars you see restored now. The more desirable, in collectors eyes, the car the more they spend on outrageous and often nonsensical restorations. This has typically kept the Maseratis and some Lamborghinis from getting funds lavished upon them. We all know about the notable vintage exceptions in both of those marques like 5000GT, 3500, Ghibli Spider, #50/400 GT, Miura, Countach ... and they do fine but in many cases still not as well as the Ferraris. In many instances the Maseratis such as the Bora and Khamsin are actually sturdier, more reliable and better built cars thought adequate rust protection was abysmal for all Italian exotics back then.

Ever seen a Ferrari Daytona undergo a full restoration and get a chance to see how they were originally built? It's shocking actually. But that doesn't seem to matter to the fans and collectors. The market is irrational, quite often illogical but it is what it is and Ferrari has had much more of a storied racing history than Maserati since they left the scene. Lamborghini not really much of anything till very recently and their parent company has displayed it's considerable technical genius, prowess and glory over those years via Porsche and Audi.

Maserati's current competition is staggeringly strong and competent with a far superior history over the long run.

This is going to be a hell of a long and hard uphill battle and I say that as a fan of the modern Maseratis save for that gawdawful cambiocorsa gearbox which not so many complained about in the Ferrari model but biotched like hell when it was in the Maseratis.
I'm not a huge fan of the current QP and Ghibli body design but I thought the QP5 design was sublime and very distinctive. The features were just too far behind the competition and until the automatic showed up it was not worthy. I liked the Levante and I see a lot of them here on the road.

I'd be curious to hear what people think was Maserati's last sports road car? I suspect that even the new MC20 won't be as sporty or high performance as the Ferrari or Lamborghini models but that won't preclude it being a good GT car racer as the race cars rarely bear much resemblance to the street cars once transformed.

 

I so agree, Bob. But, I really think Maserati has a great opportunity now. The current situation with the covid-19 pandemic bothers me, of course, like everybody else, and how the market for that car segment will look like in the coming years is highly uncertain. But, the unshackling from Maranello seems to have given true drive and direction at Viale Ciro Menotti, and we can only cheer on and hope for the best. I look forward to September 9.

 

I think that the MC20 with its body technology can set itself apart from Ferrari, because a sports car doesn't live only from its engine power. And Ferrari doesn't have a carbon body in its rear mid-engine range yet. And in this respect, the MC20 will be certainly an extremely exciting and potential sports car.

 

The MC20 with its 630PS has a aluminium space-frame chassis (the construction is completely new and has nothing to do with the Alfa 4C) with carbon bodywork, a very light car, 0-100km/h below 2.9s, this car must be a beast (and the Trofeo will be a killer).

...and concerning corporate hierarchy: Ferrari has stolen Maserati the Alfieri (now Roma), and Maserati has stolen Alfa the 8C (now MC20).

Or this is simply just the result when all the engineering teams sit in one room and drink too much grappa every now and then.

 

The grappa hypothesis is interesting

 

The difference is that the Alfieri was a prototype that was shown all over the world while the new Alfa 8C was not that much promoted.
The Alfieri was a great promise - now Maserati has to keep another promise and must deliver...

 

What happens to Maserati will depend on the resources that the parent company is willing to spend. Aston Martin is a sad example of the lack of deep pockets and what cn happen when the money isn't there. Maserati has been a roller coster ride for so many years now which is why so many people has concerns about the brand and the future. For myself, I chose to think positive but I can understand the difficulties for many other to go down that road.

 

I agree. Was a prototype of the new AR 8C ever presented, and was there even one in the first place?

Of course, a derivative of the Alfieri - that is, a 2+2 gran turismo model - may well still appear in Maserati's lineup.

 

Maserati’s current situation began in May 2016, when Marchionne replaced Wester with Bigland (Price Wester paid for the repeated delays in bringing the Levante and Giulia to production). That shifted the power base from Modena to Auburn Hills, prior to that Maserati was operating at a 13+ % margin, only Ferrari and Porsche were higher. Within 2 years the bottom fell out in sales and margins dropped to under 3%.

Since the creation of FCA there has been a back and forth battle between Modena and Auburn Hills for control of Maserati. The battle ground was mostly in the US market with a rotation of MNA Presidents coming from the Maserati network then the Chrysler network. right now it appears that Grasso is purging Modena of Chrysler personnel. Hopefully with the launch of the MC 20 and the revitalization of the brand, he will purge MNA of Chrysler staff and its dealer network.

 

mc20 should be an enlarged alfa 4c to offer more passenger space along with the v6tt. do that at about 3000lbs with an upgraded interior at around $150k base plus lots expensive options and will be a winner. take over from audi r8. competition would be nsx, 570, 911, and z06 version vette.

 

They have the proper resources and what a difference that makes.
That said I have never seen a Urus on the road here and there are plenty of Lamborghinis around. I hear exotic cars racing up and down River road on the NJ side of the Hudson river every day. It would appear that people have a lot of time on their hands ...

 

INCREDIBLE:

 

Yes an incredible old school driving new car maybe posted somewhere else? Thanks for highlighting it though. Now for the lottery win ...

 

There may be precedence for this. I heard that the GranTurismo was initially too expensive so was moved to Ferrari to become the brawnier but uglier California. But we eventually saw it appear in the Maserati lineup.

And surely Maserati cannot stop pushing the Alfieri forward. It would be like not getting behind building the Gordie Howe International Bridge in Detroit. Utter blasphemy!

 

Really good link, thank you!