Is Maserati building a new mid-engined sportscar?

The pictures – official Maserati shots – do indeed seem to confirm the company is reprising a layout last used for the Merak SS in 1983, limited-production MC12 road-racer apart. Although the details are hidden under its pre-launch camouflage, and all of the photos have conveniently been taken of the front, the car’s proportions and big air intakes ahead of the rear wheels clearly say this is a mid-engined two-seater. 

A new mid-engined Maser is a tempting thought but is it real? Or is this just a mule development car testing the firm’s new drivetrain in an old Alfa 4C body? The dimensions look very 4C-ish but then again some of the details don’t…

The photographs show the car being driven out of the historic Viale Ciro Menotti factory in Modena, the plant where the new Maserati will be built – and where until it was axed recently the Alfa 4C was also built. 

All Maserati is saying about its mystery car from Modena is that “the engine is 100 per cent Maserati”. Don’t expect a V8 though – the classic Ferrari-built 4.7-litre from the GranTurismo is now out of production, and Maserati has said all its future models will be electrified in some way. We know the replacement GranTurismo will be the first all-electric Maser in a few years’ time, leaving the new sports car for 2020 to be… a petrol-electric hybrid. Probably…

Whatever the powertrain, it has been “entirely developed and built in Maserati and will be the forefather of a new family of engines integrated exclusively on the vehicles of the brand,” says Maserati.

So the significance here is more about the engine than the car, but one fact remains: there’s surely no point testing a new drivetrain in a mid-engined mule car if for production you are going to stick the motor in the nose. 

Whatever the truth, these are exciting times for Maserati. In the past the company has talked about its new sports car as a “super sports model, a high-performance car, packed with technology and reminiscent of Maserati’s traditional values”. 

We will know the full facts next year, maybe at a Geneva Motor Show unveiling next March but certainly by May. Look closely at that body wrap and you may be able to decipher a date… It is just another teasing riddle as one of the great sporting marques seeks to rediscover a glorious past.