Has Maserati Just Launched The World’s Fastest EV Convertible?

The Maserati Grancabrio Folgore is being touted as the world’s first-ever desirable electric convertible. And with good reason. It’s drop-dead gorgeous, seats four adults, and is the fastest fully electric drop-top on the planet.

Try zero to 60 mph in a supercar-equalling 2.7 seconds. Italian for ‘lightning,’ the Folgore swaps its gasoline powered twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V6 for a three electric motor setup from the Granturismo Folgore. With one electric motor mounted at the front and two at the rear, this GT EV pumps out a prodigious 818 hp and 996 lb-ft of torque. The Folgore incorporates an 800V electrical architecture, which means it can charge at rates of up to 270 kW putting it in Tesla Supercharger territory.

Fitted with an 83kWh battery, this grand tourer has a range of 278 miles, or so the company claims. The output to each motor is limited due to the fact that the 83kWh battery has a discharge limit to protect its longevity.

To maintain ride quality, the Grancabrio Folgore's chassis has been strengthened around the rear tray and sills. For this cabrio, Maserati put comfort above agility, according to Davide Danesin, head of engineering for the GT and Quattroporte product lines.

“The customer of Grancabrio is different from a customer of the GT. The Grancabrio customer does not normally push their car hard, looking for the best performance from the machine. It's a different way to enjoy the product,” he said. "A status product is what they desire.”

The Grancabrio Folgore employs the same folding fabric roof as the gasoline spec and takes just 14 seconds to lower or raise, at speeds of up to 31 mph. This EV also comes with a fitted-as-standard neck-warming system that delivers three levels of heat. Adding to the car’s segment-leading features, the Folgore’s engineers introduced an eye-opening soundtrack, albeit a synthetic one.

The backroom boffins and Maserati set about deconstructing the frequencies of the brand’s well-known gasoline V6 and then melding this higher frequencies created by Folgore’s inverters. The artificial sound is then channeled through the internal Sonus faber sound system and outside through external speakers, to stimulate one of the five senses—hearing—that is being ignored in the rush to create an EV world. This is the fastest EV grand tourer out there, and we’d have to say that it’s the prettiest too. But with extreme speed and beauty comes heightened costs—so be prepared to pay around $220,000 when the car launches by early 2025.