- After more than a decade, Maserati has finally stopped the production of GranTurismo and GranCabrio
- Successor will be pure electric when it arrives in 2021
Maserati has officially discontinued the production of GranTurismo and GranCabrio. It’s been 12 years since the first GranTurismo saw the light of day and now a special Zeda edition marks the end of not only a production model but the end of an era. Making the most of the occasion, the Italian marque has also hinted at their electric future.
The GranTurismo Zeda is the car created to celebrate the last day of production. Maserati believes it to be a bridge the past, the present and the future. The word Zeda means ‘Z’ in the Modena dialect but the talking point of the Zeda is its exterior paint scheme. There are three colours here – Maserati Blue on the nose which morphs into a black and ends on the tail in light satin. This transition paint job is called burnished “metallurgic” effect by Maserati.
Meanwhile, renovation work has begun on the Viale Ciro Menotti plant in Modena which has produced the GranTurismo and GranCabrio since 2007. This plant will be updated with state-of-the-art technology by 2020 and will be ready to produce new supercar models and high-performance models. Meanwhile, the successor of the Italian exotics will be produced at the Turin manufacturing facility. This plant will mark the electrification steps for Maserati as the next generation GT will have 100 per cent electrification and autonomous technology.
Coming back to the GranTurismo, the two-door, four-seater from Modena was designed by Pininfarina and made its first appearance at the Geneva International Motor Show in 2007 while the GranTurismo arrived two years. It was powered by a Ferrari-sourced V8 capable of producing 460bhp and 520Nm. The pair, however, never received major updated over its long course of production but Maserati did bring it many special editions and bespoke models to keep them soldiering on all these years. In the 12 years of production, 40,000 units were sold across the globe, including 28,805 GranTurismo and 11,715 GranCabrio.
After remaining inactive for the last few years, Maserati will be on a roll in the coming years. In addition to electric flagship sports coupe – set to arrive in 2021, the Modena-based carmaker will refresh the Ghibli, Levante, and Quattroporte for 2020. The GranCabrio will follow in 2022 joined by next-gen Quattroporte while the second-generation of the Levante SUV will arrive in 2023.
