V6, V8, manual: Maserati plays for ICE fans

ITALIAN marque Maserati is readying a continuum of new petrol-powered products as it positions itself as the sports-luxury alternative for buyers unconvinced EV-only line-ups and downsized powertrains seen in other quarters of the premium segment.

While Maserati’s global sales have remained modest for many years, there are signs that the brand is interested in chasing profitable, high-margin sales, including by reintroducing V8 engine and manual gearbox offers on some models—however, not all solutions are focused on small-volume cars.

The immediate commercial move is the introduction of a cheaper V6 version of Maserati’s Grecale midsize SUV, with the 287kW/500Nm ‘Modena’ tune of the 3.0-litre twin-turbo ‘Nettuno’ engine set to slash the six-cylinder entry point compared to the $179,900 (+ORCs) Trofeo model.

That shake-up to the Grecale range has been almost perfectly timed to coincide with the end of production of the combustion-powered Porsche Macan, which was discontinued for Australia and replaced with a BEV-only successor in 2024.

At the same time, head of Maserati engineering Davide Danesin said a compact, European-style V8 would fit the company’s existing GranTurismo- and Grecale-sized architectures, while any future manual should use genuine mechanical connections rather than a simulated interface.

“My personal opinion is…I think V8 could be potentially coming back,” Mr Danesin told GoAuto. “I’m sure that if we would be making it, we would be selling it, maybe not in big numbers.”

And manual is back on the table for limited-edition cars, too: “I see a mechanical solution with a good engine coming into a few-off car, which then provides the full experience, as it was 20 or 30 years ago,” Mr Danesin said.

In the crucial SUV segment that backstops the existence of most sports car companies, archrival Porsche has committed to reverse its EV-only decision in the midsize SUV segment, but a new combustion and hybrid SUV to replace the Macan and battle the Grecale is at least two years away.

Maserati has not confirmed Australian pricing for the Modena V6, but the new grade has reduced V6 entry pricing by 20 per cent in the United Kingdom and United States.

Tested in Italy and Slovenia, the Grecale Modena V6 proved sufficiently quick rather than excessively fast, reaching 100km/h in about five seconds (compared to 3.8 sec for the Trofeo)—but it sounds very appealing as it gets there, with a throaty and raspy exhaust note and snappy upper-rev responses.

Sport mode improves initially doughy reactions, while the Grecale’s compliant adaptively damped ride, very strong cabin presentation and useful packaging strengthen its case beyond its local sales result of 238 cars in 2025.

While there are hopes the cheaper Grecale V6 will bring more customers through the door, Maserati also has high-end plans for its traditional-buyer strategy, with the brand on the cusp of reintroducing the option of a V8 engine and even a manual gearbox to premium model lines.

Mr Danesin said that while a V8 was generally appealing, a suitable engine would need to be smaller than the large-displacement ‘Hemi’ units Stellantis produces for its American products—and this would effectively be a new engine, rather than simply a Nettuno V6 with two cylinders added.

Limited-run versions of the GranTurismo and GranCabrio two-door cars are the clearest potential production applications for the V8, though a Grecale V8 is also technically feasible.

“It looks like the momentum for V8 is building up. The decision to make it or not is very much dependant on company strategies. I think that potentially that space is there,” Mr Danesin said.

“You don’t feel the need of a V8 because of missing performance. I think the need of V8 is more like having the proper engine for a certain vehicle—it’s more a perception issue…overall, I think this is coming back.”

Maserati is taking an equally firm position in relation to manual transmissions: it would need to be real, rather than a similar artificial solution to Ferrari’s new ‘Manuale’ dual-clutch adaptation.

“We already proved, since 15 years (ago), that automatic gearboxes are shifting quicker. I think that it is not about making the perfect shifting experience. It is about recalling the mechanical feeling.

“In doing that, you would be losing some performance in terms of speed of shifting, maybe even the feeling through the lever of the engine vibrating. I think that would be part of the experience. It’s a good part,” he said,

Mr Danesin compared the business case for a manual transmission to a mechanical wristwatch: technically superseded, costly to manufacture, but valuable partly because of scarcity.

“To come back to a mechanical (manual) setup…all the components behind that are going to be very high-cost because of super-low volume.

“I think these days, a good mechanical gearbox could cost €15,000-20,000, ($A24,666 – 32,888) while an automatic gearbox costs less than €3000,(about $A5000)” Mr Danesin said—hinting that an available manual might add upwards of $30,000 to the retail price.

A Maserati manual would be restricted to low production and would most naturally accompany rear-wheel drive in a sports car rather than the kind of maximum-performance AWD system seen in today’s GranTurismo tunes.

Yet the brand is not abandoning electrification or the existing Folgore BEV models that make up part of the GranTurismo, GranCabrio and Grecale line-ups.