MC12 & MC20 Successor Is A Mid-Engined Italian Mountain Goat
One of many perks of working inside duPont REGISTRY’s international headquarters is seeing a Maserati MC12 in our workplace day-after-day. Due to a earlier position, at a well-known British motorsports journal, I additionally obtained to witness many FIA GT Championship races firsthand, the place the MC12 GT1 usually dominated supreme from 2005-’10. You realize a automobile is actually profitable when the organizers try and ban it – which is why the second batch of 25 manufacturing vehicles are 150mm shorter than the originals!
In 2020, Maserati revisited the two-seater, mid-engined layout with the MC20, and this time opted to mass produce it, moderately than the MC12’s restricted run of fifty highway vehicles and 12 racers. However it did deliver that ‘62’ quantity again for the wild, track-only MCXtrema, whereas the road-legal GT2 Stradale additionally affords additional additional energy/much less weight thrills.
For the 2026 mannequin yr the MC20 is rebranded because the MCPura, with a front-to-back design refresh, together with its open-topped ‘Cielo’ (Italian for ‘sky’) variant for $281,000 alongside its $246,000 Coupe. The Cielo’s glass roof retracts in 12s when travelling at underneath 30 mph, far eliminated, should you’ll pardon the pun, from the MC12’s removable hardtop that couldn’t be stowed inside the automobile – so that you needed to pray that it didn’t all of the sudden rain in your journey!
The Cielo is 12 kg (26.5 lbs) heavier than the Coupe, resulting from reinforcements to the carbon fiber monocoque (the bathtub is a collaboration between Maserati and Dallara) to make sure its structural rigidity, however your payback is that the chassis is ever so barely stiffer. Maserati payments this automobile because the “essence of efficiency and pleasure”, and the ‘Pura’ stems from a trident, if you’ll, of “pure velocity, pure luxurious, and pure Italian ardour”. Underpinned by Maserati’s intelligent little Nettuno 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6, producing 621 horsepower and 730 Nm (538 lb-ft) of torque, it may possibly obtain 0-60 mph in 2.9 seconds.
Design-wise, the large exterior adjustments come on the entrance bumper and fascia, with a way more aggressive and angular ‘shark nostril’ grille, plus reshaping of the decrease fascia on the rear finish. The facet skirts have additionally been revised to mirror the design language, which features a shiny black end versus the matte of the MC20. Inside, a brand new steering wheel, with a flattened prime, is now lined in Alcantara, materials which additionally runs all through the seats, sprint and door panels, which appears like an elevation from its forebear.
New efficiency pages have been added to its centrally mounted 10.25-inch touchscreen, which is the place you management the roof retraction and opacity – because it options polymer-dispersed liquid crystals (PDLC) that switches from clear to opaque on the contact of the display screen. The change happens inside a second, and it’s genuinely fairly freaky while you first see it!
Beneath the automobile, aerodynamic efficiency has been improved on the entrance finish. The ground now contains a 5% improve in vertical load, and the diffuser on the rear has been refined to take care of the steadiness. “The MCXtrema served as a design laboratory for this automobile,” defined chief designer Klaus Busse. “It launched the Trident-shaped taillight and a extra horizontal, assertive entrance design. We’ve carried this ahead into the MCPura, giving it a extra assured presence.”
It certain does look purposeful, and I’m advised it spent greater than 2,000 man-hours within the wind tunnel. The automobile I’m driving alongside the Tuscan coast of Italy is an MCPura Cielo in Satan Orange, a shade that’s a tribute to the feisty Italian feminine F1 pioneer of the Fifties, Maria Teresa de Filippis, who was referred to as “Diazoles’” – the “she satan”. That is one in every of three signature colours supplied, alongside the radiant blue AI Aqua Rainbow, and basic white Bianco Audace. Maserati’s Fuoriserie program opens a just about limitless palette of shade selections for exterior and inside choices.
My first impression comes as a passenger; as luck would have it my drive buddy for the day is common duPont REGISTRY automobile tester Michael Teo Van Runkle. Charged with espresso, and working second on the highway behind Maserati’s lead take a look at driver for this system, Filippo Pensotti, Michael spends his stint hustling behind Filippo’s 2025 Maserati GranTurismo Trofeo coupe alongside a sinuous mountain highway. From my shotgun vantage level, I relaxation assured that the MCPura is as lithe and responsive as you’d count on from a mid-engined, carbon-tubbed halo automobile.
After a break for taking photographs and movies, and extra espresso, we swap locations and it’s my flip to open the driving force’s facet butterfly door and slide behind that flat-topped steering wheel to seek out out for myself. I luck into an much more steep and twisting route, and with Filippo waving us to go forward, I can set my very own tempo.
The MCPura’s 621 hp doesn’t all come directly, however with only one,500 kg (3,306 lbs) to inspire and a neat patented-for-the-road, F1-style pre-chamber combustion system, the primary burst of acceleration is sufficient to gentle up the rears – one thing we additionally obtain later when testing its launch system (a button on the best of the steering wheel, throughout from the starter on the left). Because the revs rise, the twin-turbos be part of the celebration, giving the automobile a second wind, and on this wonderful highway I’m barely grabbing third gear earlier than the subsequent downshift is required.
“I consider our powertrain really differentiates us,” explains Leonardo Rimini, the MCPura’s product planner, once I ask him later about how he feels MCPura stacks as much as phase rivals. “We don’t use a hybrid system; we’ve stayed pure to the interior combustion engine. The twin-turbo V6 Nettuno engine is now a part of Maserati’s DNA and is actually the beating coronary heart of the corporate. That’s a really compelling worth proposition.
“The engine delivers unbelievable outcomes, and the expertise is actually cutting-edge. However should you requested me my favourite side of the automobile, it might be the carbon fiber tub – it contributes a lot to the stiffness and torsional rigidity of the chassis. You’ll be able to actually really feel that while you drive it.”
Agreed! As soon as again on the Autostrada, we get one other seal of approval from a man on a high-powered Kawasaki bike, who comes roaring as much as us, slows down, and begs us to rev the engine as we undergo a tunnel. He provides the Italian hand gesture for “Bellissimo” earlier than charging off at one million miles an hour on his commute. It’s one thing that’s not misplaced on its stylist, Herr Busse: “Our clients inform us they love Maserati as a result of it’s not shouting at you – it’s a rolling sculpture. In Europe, supercars can draw damaging consideration, however our clients get thumbs up, not the incorrect finger.”
Again into the hills we go for some extra mountainside enjoyable. Flooring the throttle, and redlining by way of the low gears, earlier than stamping on the left pedal to really feel the chunk of its carbon-ceramic brakes, and downshifting for the subsequent switchback, and the Nettuno produces some wonderous chirrups and flutter from the turbos. This sounds finest in Corsa mode (professional tip: go into Sport mode after which maintain for a few seconds and it magically engages with a snazzy flash – GT and Moist modes are additionally obtainable). The gearchange response from the paddles in guide mode is sharp, and the MCPura devours these mountain roads with poise.
The steering is a contact on the sunshine facet however feels completely related to the entrance wheels on turn-in, and the suggestions when on throttle exit was sound, which helps as its traction management isn’t as, let’s say ‘intrusive’, as other 600+ hp cars I’ve experienced recently. However you wouldn’t need a boring supercar, would you? Driving this automobile in a spirited style means you want all of your wits about you – which is the way it ought to be.
It’s actually a automobile that lets you discover a rhythm to the purpose of it nearly turning into mesmeric, with a experience high quality that soaked up the bumps however its agency sufficient to ship a sharp entrance finish. Blasting alongside downhill stretches oddly jogged my memory of using your quickest skateboard as a child, carving down the largest gradient you may discover, the place easy inputs meant you may zig zag at excessive velocity, and carry your momentum proper to the underside, and also you’d solely really feel dissatisfied when the fun experience was over!
However with the MCPura, there’s all the time one other mountain to climb, and that’s just about how we spent the remainder of the day, tackling nook after nook, up and down the dramatic hillsides of Tuscany, solely pausing to get some photographs of this stunning automobile towards the gorgeous vistas. Our drive concludes on a steep downhill stretch, the place Michael – fueled by a double espresso over lunch in Sestri Levante – catches and hounds an area hero in mid-sized European Ford, who clearly is aware of each inch of the highway and is taking a racing line round every bend.
Using shotgun as soon as extra, and ignoring the large drops outdoors my window, I’m totally entertained as a lot by how on-the-edge the automobile in entrance is, whereas the MCPura is quickly gobbling up the identical apexes with chic ease only a few yards behind. It’s truthful to say, after a few hours of enthusiastic driving, we obtained by way of a good share of the gasoline tank over 200 miles of hustling across the area…
A complete of 130 examples (32% of the 2026 run) is destined for the North American market, with the primary set to land in December. On the supercar smattered streets of Miami, I’ve solely ever seen a handful of MC20s in contrast its mid-engined rivals – though I do see many Levante and Grecale SUVs each day, and it’s hardly shocking to be taught that close by Maserati of Fort Lauderdale is its largest US vendor.
So, should you’re in search of a 200-mph supercar that may flip heads – but delivers efficiency much like a Ferrari 296 GTB, avoids the fuss of hybrids, and comes with refined magnificence – then the MCPura ought to actually be in your radar.
Pictures: Charles Bradley, Maserati
