Maserati Grecale: A Legacy Reimagined
Maserati x SHARP
Maserati named its new Grecale SUV after a strong, crisp Mediterranean wind. Over millennia, it has reshaped every coastline it touches with the sheer force of its relentless persistence. The name is apt for Maserati’s newest SUV; the Grecale is similarly trying to reshape the luxury SUV landscape, carving out space for a brand most Canadians might recognize more from vintage racing posters than modern showrooms.
For the entirety of its 111 year history, Maserati has been crafting some of Italy’s most audacious automobiles, machines that break boundaries, that win on the world’s biggest stages, that spark desire. That’s only possible because Maserati has always put passion over spreadsheets, soul over statistics. And, in that fine Maserati tradition, the Grecale too is breaking boundaries, sparking new desire, and pushing the brand into a kind of accessibly exclusive place it’s never been before.
Performance Without Apology
Maserati made its bones on the world’s great racetracks: Juan Manuel Fangio’s 1957 Formula One championship in a Maserati 250F, the Maserati’s 8CTF’s back-to-back Indianapolis 500 victories in 1939 and 1940, and on and on. That race-winning pedigree runs through the engineering DNA of the new Grecale Trofeo and its 523-horsepower twin-turbo V6. The engine’s Twin Combustion technology, borrowed from Maserati’s MC20 supercar, uses Formula One-derived pre-chamber ignition to extract performance while maintaining reasonable efficiency.
As a result, the Trofeo is the perfect partner whether you’re charging up backroads in the Rockies heading to your favourite ski chalet, or dominating on-ramps on your daily commute.
If, however, electric power is more your speed, Maserati is innovating on that front too. Just as the brand’s Tipo 60 “Birdcage” revolutionized lightweight race car construction, the all-electric Grecale Folgore is rewriting the rules for what drivers can expect from electric SUVs. Here, Italian aesthetic bravura — check out the utterly unique 21-inch wheel designs — meets cutting-edge electric performance. The all-wheel drive Folgore puts down 542 hp and a veritable tidal wave of torque; it’s a level of performance that can get your adrenaline pumping (even if you are only heading out to the shops).
Of course, so much power is nothing without control. Not even Fangio had the benefit of the Grecale’s intuitive Vehicle Dynamic Control Module, which orchestrates the driving experience across five distinct modes. In Comfort, it’s a leather-lined cocoon for getting things done. Switch to Corsa, and the air suspension (standard on the Trofeo) hunkers down, the exhaust note sharpens, and suddenly you’re piloting something that lunges towards the horizon. The Trofeo’s spec sheet — 3.8-seconds to spring from 0-100 km/h and on towards a top speed of 285 km/h — shows Maserati hasn’t forgotten its racing roots, despite the Grecale’s class-leading second-row that easily accommodates child seats. It’s just the ticket for off-duty racers and on-duty parents.
Past Meets Future
Slide into the leather-lined cabin and you’ll see the Grecale walks a tightrope between the past and future, melding the old-world craftsmanship of Maserati’s past with innovative tech. Case in point: the Maserati Intelligent Assistant (MIA) multimedia system spreads across a 12.3-inch screen — table stakes in today’s market — but it’s the details that hint at deeper thinking. While Maserati classics like the stunning 3500 GT and 1960s Ghibli had analog clocks front and centre on the dash, the Grecale replaces analog with digital. It’s not just about adding technology for its own sake; it’s about making an owner’s busy life a little more frictionless. The digital clock can morph into a timepiece, compass, and G-force meter, and MIA interface. It is functional jewellery that wouldn’t look out of place in a collection from Hiroshi Fujiwara’s Fragment label. (It shouldn’t come as a surprise then that Maserati and Fragment collaborated on some limited edition cars that are lights-out stunners.)
Even sound is subject to Maserati’s audacity. While competitors synthesise and amplify, Maserati tunes the Grecale’s exhaust note like Stradivari voiced violins. For the stereo system, the brand tapped its Italian countrymen at Sonus Faber. In the top-of-the-line system, 21 speakers channel 1,285 watts through a cabin that’s been acoustically tuned with the same obsessiveness Ermenegildo Zegna applies to thread counts. (Even your most discerning audiophile friend will approve.) With its laser-cut speaker grilles, Maserati treats sound as architecture. It’s excessive, certainly, but excess with purpose has always been part of the Italian luxury equation.
The Art of Maserati
When Juan Manuel Fangio piloted the Maserati 250F to Formula One glory in 1957, he didn’t just win races, he drove with a grace that somehow made brutality look beautiful. The Grecale channels this same duality. Its exterior design, penned at the Maserati Centro Stile in Turin, manages to be both aggressive and refined, with a trapezoidal C-pillar that quotes the brand’s design heritage — see the Maserati Boomerang or Medici concepts, for example — while writing a new chapter.
Just like those concept cars, the new Grecale is a visual feast. It’ll turn heads pulling up to a gallery opening, and look perfectly at ease parked prominently at the valet.
Maserati’s designers looked outside of Maserati’s legacy for inspiration as well. On the Grecale Modena, you’ll find interiors inspired by brutalist Italian architect Pier Luigi Nervi. The embroidered patterns flowing across surfaces like structural poetry pay homage to Nervi’s concrete lattice buildings.
No matter who you’re picking up in the Grecale — clients, colleagues, friends on a weekend getaway — they’re sure to be impressed and delighted by the Grecale’s artful interior.
Building on an Audacious Legacy
Personally, as fans of Maserati’s classic machinery and racing roots, we’re pleased to see the Grecale has found a way to push the brand forward without betraying its soul. It brings the performance, innovation, and the Italian artistry that defines Maserati’s legacy into the brand’s second century, and it does so with panache. Not only that, but it’s wrapped up in a surprisingly accessible package.
In a crowded market, the Grecale asks buyers to consider not just the practical, but also the irrational: the way the engine note changes under acceleration, how the leather smells on a warm day, the satisfaction of piloting something not everyone else owns. Life is too short for boring cars.
For those discovering Maserati through the Grecale, welcome to a world where audacity isn’t just accepted, it is expected.
