Maserati’s new Grecale mid-size luxury SUV has Porsche’s class-leading contender firmly in its sights? But is it good enough to overtake it? Prestige finds out.
Once upon a time – around 60 or 70 years ago, in fact – Maseratis were among the coolest cars on the planet. The Modena-based company’s beautiful road machines were at least as sought-after by the rich, famous and powerful as those made by its Italian arch-competitor, Enzo Ferrari, just a few kilometres down the road in the village of Maranello. Prince Rainier III of Monaco drove one – his 3500 GT Touring Superleggera was a particular favourite in an impressive car collection – as did the Aga Khan IV, Frank Sinatra, and the actors Sir Lawrence Olivier, Tony Curtis and Rock Hudson. At roughly the same time, the company’s 250F was also cleaning up in top-class motorsport in the hands of such legendary drivers as Juan-Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss; according to the latter: “The nicest Formula 1 car to drive was probably the Maserati 250F.”
Glamour and competition success, however, weren’t sufficient in themselves to sustain the business. Maserati pulled out of direct involvement in motorsport in 1957 after a terrible crash that marred the Mille Miglia endurance race; by the late 1960s, the Orsi family, who’d bought the company in 1940, gave up trying to keep it afloat by themselves and sold a majority share to the French brand, Citroën. And that was only the first in a long succession of crises and changes of direction and ownership (for six years, until 2005, the company was even owned by its former rival Ferrari, which still makes some of Maserati’s engines today).
Whether on the road or the racetrack, all Maseratis have traditionally worn a trident symbol on their grille, which is inspired by a statue of the Roman sea god Neptune in a piazza in the nearby city of Bologna, the company’s original home. That logo still adorns the sharp end of its cars today, as the brand is once again recast with a new persona. This time, it sits at the pinnacle of the offerings from its current overlord, the giant French-Italian-American automotive conglomerate Stellantis, which has tasked it with the mission of taking on the upper echelons at BMW’s M division, MercedesAMG and Porsche, as well as stealing sales from the likes of Bentley, Ferrari and Lamborghini. (Recently there’ve even been intriguing whispers that Maserati might eventually be spun off in a full or partial IPO, much as happened at Maranello in 2014; that, however, would depend on increased profitability and operating margins and, of course, the right product portfolio.)
Aside from achieving those lofty objectives, Maserati is also dealing with the inevitable move towards electrification, as well as the global addiction for SUVs. Indeed, as such high-sided machines now serve as the cash cows for almost every motor manufacturer on Earth, the success of the Trident’s recently launched contender – it’s called the Grecale and, like many Maseratis, is named after a Mediterranean wind – in the category’s key mid-size segment is of more than academic importance. That’s because it’s also aimed directly at Porsche’s class-leading Macan, which is popularly held to be the most complete mid-size luxury SUV you can buy.
The Grecale is built upon Stellantis’s Giorgio platform, which is no bad thing as those same underpinnings are shared with Alfa Romeo’s Giulia saloon and Stelvio SUV, both of which are cracking driving machines. Perhaps less inspiring are this five-seater’s lower-end 2-litre four-cylinder engines, both turbocharged and mildly hybridised (and also found in entry-levels versions of Maserati’s Ghibli saloon), which, though worthy enough, aren’t quite in line with the brand’s planned upwardly mobile trajectory. What does sound very much like the business, however, is Maser’s own in-house 3-litre, twin-turbocharged Nettuno V6 engine, which powers the range-topping Trofeo version and, though detuned from the 621bhp it produces in the MC20 supercar, still thumps out a whopping 530 horses. And that’s the one I’m fortunate to be driving today.
From the A-pillars rearwards, the Grecale is your regular mid-size SUV; it sits low on its suspension like a supersized hatchback and though its lines are unexceptional, for the genre it isn’t unattractive. At the front, though, it seems a different beast altogether, with that aggressively shouty Maserati grille – decorated with vertical bars and, of course, the Trident logo – a further array of intakes, a long-ish bonnet (or, at least, so it appears) and three signature chrome-edged vents above the trailing edge of each wheel arch, the latter housing handsome multi-spoke alloys. As much as any dumpy SUV can resemble a proper performance car, the Trofeo pulls it off relatively convincingly.
On the inside the Grecale certainly achieves the requisite premium feel through classy cabin design, materials – it’s swathed in top-quality leather with contrasting carbon fibre – and finishing. I’m especially impressed with the beautiful metal paddle shifters behind the wheel, and the gleaming array of central touchscreens, all with excellent graphics, that control many of the car’s functions (though sometimes I do yearn for simple switches or buttons, which are so much easier to operate when on the move).
The front seats are 14-way power adjustable, and there’s ample space for normal-sized rear-seat passengers, too – considerably more than in the Macan, in fact – as well as plenty of luggage room for quotidian purposes. Further burnishing the luxury credentials are three-zone climate control and a bespoke audio system by Italian sound specialist Sonus Faber (and if the standard 14-speaker set-up isn’t sufficient, they’ll somehow manage to find room in the cabin to squeeze in a further seven).
When fired up, that V6 really does sound the business – and though there’s a suggestion of low-end turbo lag, once the revs pile on the Trofeo feels as genuinely fast as the engine’s rowdy tunefulness suggests. Maserati quotes a 0-100km/h time in massive-attack Corsa mode of 3.8 seconds, and though I’ve no way of verifying it, that does sound eminently believable. Find a convenient stretch of autobahn or, failing that, a deserted airport runway and it’ll max out at 285, which is a good deal quicker than most other SUVs – the GTS version of the Porsche Macan included.
If left to its own devices, the car’s standard ZF eight-speed transmission does a decent job of self-selecting the right ratios, but perhaps what impresses most of all are the agility, composed chassis and excellent steering, all of which – surprisingly for an SUV – really do encourage you to let rip. The wheel seems perfectly weighted and reassuringly accurate, and it offers plenty of road feel. Body roll is nicely controlled and there’s grip to match, so you can weave the Grecale along twisting roads with confidence, the only serious proviso being the car’s relative bulk.
Morever, as a neat display on the upper touchscreen illustrates (though it’s best not to devote too much attention to it while in motion), in normal driving conditions almost all the torque is vectored to the rear wheels almost all of the time, so this Grecale really does feel like a classic Maserati. Brakes are top-notch, too, and, thanks to the adaptive air suspension (standard on the Trofeo and optional on lesser variants), the ride is comfortably wafting – and that’s in spite of the fact we’re rolling on low-profile rubber mounted on 21-inch rims.
With its mid-engine MC20, Maserati has provided ample proof it can create a thoroughly modern supercar that’s at least as good as anything from Ferrari, Lamborghini or McLaren. And when driving the Grecale Trofeo, with its powerful V6 engine and surprisingly well-developed dynamics, it’s hard not to think that some of the same expertise has rubbed off on this charismatic SUV. Is it better than the Macan it’s clearly aimed at? That’s a question only long-term ownership would answer, but if you’re seeking a credible alternative for Porsche’s mid-size SUV, then look no further.
MASERATI GRECALE TROFEO
ENGINE
Twin-turbocharged 3-litre V6
TRANSMISSION
Eight-speed automatic
MAX POWER
621bhp
MAX TORQUE
620Nm @ 3,000rpm
MAX SPEED
285km/h
ACCELERATION
0-100km/h in 3.8 seconds
UNLADEN WEIGHT
2,027kg
PRICE
Around HK$1.5 million
This story first appeared in Prestige Hong Kong
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