Maserati Is Testing Its First EV Powertrain In A Gran Turismo, And It Sounds Like This
There’s a case for calling the Maserati Gran Turismo the best-sounding production car in history. At the very least its 4.7-litre, naturally-aspirated V8 has a solid place it in the top 5.
Internal combustion purists, then, might be a little miffed to find out that the body of the recently discontinued GT is being used by Maserati as a test mule for its first-ever electric powertrain. Isn’t that like taking a van Gough off the wall and replacing it with a screen displaying something you drew in MS Paint?
Not necessarily - this is Maserati. The Italian brand is fully aware that its cars are supposed to sound brilliant, and even as it starts to make the transition to electric power, that’s still on the agenda.
The company says that its electric cars will make “a distinctive signature sound”. To give us some idea of how that’ll pan out, there’s a new video which you can see (and hear) above.
Maserati has prepared several “experimental vehicles” at its ‘Innovation Lab’ in Modena, which will pave the way for electric versions of the next Gran Turismo and Gran Cabrio. The ‘MMXXI’ reference in the video refers to 2021 in Roman numerals, to give you some idea of when we’ll first see the plug-in Gran Turismo.
Internal combustion engines will still be on the agenda for a while, with hybridised powertrains - including one that’ll be slotted into Maserati’s new mid-engined sports car - currently in development.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
How can an electric sound different? Through speakers? Well, that’s not powertrain’s real sound
Yeah that’s the one thing performance ev‘s need imo. The motors need different character.
Which for me at least includes sound
What Porsche did with the Taycan is record the sounds of the motors, which forms the basis for what’s pumped out of the speakers. It does work quite well. Perhaps Maserati is going to do something similar - it hasn’t said. But it won’t be as nice as a 4.7 V8 obviously…
Fake engine noise for EVs is gay
Performance EVs sound so cool.
Dear Maserati. Your announcement for the new music from the MMXXIs motor made me very interested. I listened carefully. But unfortunately your technicians forgot to edit the sound - I couldn‘t hear any🤷🏼♂️
It sounds a little better than a normal motor but it still just makes a high pitched whirring sound.
But.. that’s a cool sound…
Hmmm…. Yea, we need more than just a 20 second peek
EV’s will be fine. People were also salty when the horseless carriage AKA the automobile was introduced. We are going to the same transition. I am looking forward to it especially with the cooler manufacturers joining the party.
The sound doesn’t work on the video and I seriously cannot figure out if it’s actually the audio or the video player is messed up lmao
sounds like brake pads near the end of their lives…
Sounds similar to a v10 with the swine