Maserati MCPura to build on MC20 legacy and more

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The Maserati MCPura supercar, powered by a V6 mill, is available in coupé and convertible versions — the latter known as Cielo.

MASERATI recently held the world premiere of the latest descendant of its MC20 super sportscar at the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2025. The MCPura, said to be 100% made in Modena “from development to production” — at the historic factory on Viale Ciro Menotti — is the “manifesto of the Trident’s characteristics of performance, elegance, and sportiness.”

The Italian marque, in a release, insisted that the MCPura “symbolizes a return to the origins of the Trident’s DNA: pure speed, pure luxury, and pure passion,” still powered by Maserati’s iconic V6 Nettuno mill.

The MCPura is being purveyed as inspired by Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity: “the new car is equated with the energy it can express if elevated to itself, i.e., to its purest form. In short, the essence of performance the Maserati way,” said the company.

The model comes in both coupé and convertible versions — the latter known as Cielo and which features a “retractable electric roof in polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) glass, the first to do so in its class, with the ability to switch from opaque to transparent in one second.”

A “shark nose” invokes a long history of racing single-seaters “that made the Modena car manufacturer a legend.” Maserati said its designers modified the appearance to accentuate it even more. The front bumper takes a stylistic cue from the GT2 Stradale, as with the rear which has a new oversized spoiler as an option.

The lower fascia, however, has been “completely revamped and designed specifically for the MCPura with aesthetic solutions capable of improving the aerodynamic performance of the car’s floor.”

The MCPura’s seats are laser-etched in Alcantara Ice, and “bring out the Trident with brand-new graphics. The resulting image is both futuristic and sporty with a double-sided backing, an iridescent red with blue and an iridescent blue with red, which enhances the forms and takes up the same shades of the exterior details.”

Before the official launch, Maserati teased the MCPura via an online presentation exclusive to select members of the international media. “Velocity” was among those invited.

From a campaign standpoint, the MCPura is said to embody “pure emotional energy” and allow buyers to “experience the luxury of driving Italian,” while offering a “pure and unfiltered” bond between car and driver.

Powering it is the aforementioned Nettuno engine, which is marked by a V 90-degree architecture. Swept volume of the six-cylinder, twin turbo is at three liters, and the mill submits 621hp at 7,500rpm, and 720Nm from 3,000rpm. Derived from Formula 1, the Nettuno has a pre-chamber combustion system with twin spark plugs. Each horsepower needs to move on 2.3 kilograms.

Asked if Maserati will again offer a V8 engine in a future product, an official replied: “From a technical standpoint, the Nettuno is a wonderful engine with many innovations. (It has) everything we need to deliver the best driving experience. We know the mood about the V8 in the market. We won’t say we’ll never use it again, but the Nettuno is very much at the center of (our) propulsion strategy at the moment.”

Replying to a question from this writer on how the MCPura builds on the MC20 legacy and evolves it, an official said, “The MC Pura continues the MC20 tradition in terms of a super sportscar. What makes it different is really the engine, the V6 engine with fabulous power. At the end of the day, we try to optimize the gran turismo factor. Maserati’s position is rooted in gran turismo. It’s a way of driving, feeling, comfortable with high performance.”

The Maserati MCPura is claimed to have a top speed exceeding 325kph, and musters a standstill-to-100kph time of around 2.9 ticks.

At the end of the day, Maserati wants the MC Pura to be known for its lightness and “very strong power,” that the one behind the wheel will feel like a pro driver. — Kap Maceda Aguila