The 2025 Maserati GranCabrio Folgore: Performance and Prestige
Star power.
Last year, the legendary Italian carmaker Maserati launched its first all-electric production model, the GranTurismo Folgore. Built on the same platform as its gas-powered counterpart, this high-performance grand tourer was dynamite right out of the box.
A three-day road trip in Italy offered the chance to drive the GranTurismo and the Folgore back-to-back. As our group travelled from Rome through Tuscany and onward to Modena, we jumped from one car to the other, experiencing all sorts of roads along the way. In the end, the consensus was that the Folgore was the more compelling of the two versions, but it was a close-run thing.
This year, the agenda consisted of a single-day adventure around Lake Maggiore in northern Italy and two brand new vehicles, one of them all-electric. These cars—the convertible versions of the Maserati launched last year—are the GranCabrio and GranCabrio Folgore.
A popular tourist destination, Lake Maggiore is a beautiful setting but not the optimal place to sample a high-performance droptop. The views are spectacular as you drive away from the quaint coastal towns and up into the hills. But the roads can be alarmingly narrow along these passages, and cyclists are all over the place. With the driving conditions set in stone, it was a matter of settling in and just enjoying the drive.
Fortunately, silently motoring along in an Italian grand tourer under an Italian summer sun offers plenty of enjoyment.
The GranCabrio Folgore is powered by three 300-kilowatt motors, one at the front and the other two at the back, and a 92.5-kilowatt lithium-ion battery pack. The Folgore uses an 800-volt architecture for faster recharging. The batteries are positioned at the four corners of the car and in the centre, which creates a lower centre of gravity.
This design, combined with the car’s balanced 50/50 weight distribution, creates incredible levels of dynamic handling. Heavier by some 100 kilograms than the gas-powered GranCabrio, the Folgore nevertheless rides better than and carves corners with greater ease. This extra weight, normally a hindrance, seems to give the electrified version more composure, even at speed when confronted by bumps in the middle of a corner.
With near-instantaneous acceleration, the all-electric version is also quicker off the line. The sprint to 100 kilometres per hour takes a reported 2.9 seconds, very rapid even for a high-performance EV. Top speed for the Folgore (at 290 kilometres per hour) is lower than that of its gas-powered counterpart, but still very fast, all things considered.
Make no mistake, though—these Maserati models are grand-tourers, not track weapons. But to be fair, if you’re looking for a convertible to cruise around Italy on a sunny summer day, you could do far worse. Both cars offer loads of style, plenty of prestige, and no small amount of performance, especially the Folgore.
