The Maserati Folgore: When Lightning Strikes (Silently)

The Maserati Folgore: When Lightning Strikes (Silently)

An Italian supercar without an engine. It sounds wrong until you drive it.

The Maserati GranTurismo Folgore — "lightning" in Italian, because the naming committee had one job — is a 751-horsepower electric grand tourer that does everything a Maserati should do, except make noise. Three electric motors. Nearly 1,000 lb-ft of torque. Zero to 60 in 2.7 seconds. These aren't numbers. These are threats.

The party trick is torque vectoring via two rear motors that turn the car into a corner-exit slingshot. The Folgore doesn't accelerate so much as it relocates you through spacetime. One moment you're at a stoplight. The next moment your spine has formed a personal relationship with the seat latch.

The weight is the first thing you notice — not under power, where 751 horsepower makes 5,000 pounds feel irrelevant, but under braking. Batteries don't do Weight Watchers. The car carries a 92.5 kWh pack (83 kWh usable) in a T-shaped arrangement that Maserati calls "T-bone" — batteries down the transmission tunnel and behind the rear seats instead of a flat skateboard. This keeps the roof line low (the Folgore shares body panels with the gas GranTurismo), but it means the car still tips the scales near 5,000 pounds. Your tires will notice. Your brake pads will notice. Your bank account will cry when the replacement bill arrives like an Italian invoice — expensive and slightly accusatory.

The chassis, though. Maserati remembered that "GT" means "Grand Tourer." The air suspension keeps the body flat without rattling fillings loose. The seats support spirited driving without turning your lumbar region into origami. Back seats exist and accommodate actual humans — not happy ones over six feet, but humans nonetheless. Progress.

The 800V architecture fast-charges from 20 to 80 percent in about 18 minutes, assuming you find a charger that's having a good day. That's "grab a coffee and pretend to read emails" quick, not "learn a new language" quick. Range depends entirely on whether you drive like a functioning adult or like someone who just discovered what 751 horsepower feels like. Spoiler: I made friends with multiple charging stations.

Inside, the Sonus faber audio system is so good it makes compressed streaming sound like a live performance. I sat in my driveway finishing songs. Multiple times. The digital clock on the dash changes faces like a moody Milanese fashion model. The wireless charger works with your phone case on, which means someone at Maserati actually uses technology instead of just drawing pictures of it. Metal pedals. Proper switchgear. "Folgore" badging that whispers instead of screams.

The silence is the hardest adjustment. Maserati pipes in a synthesized EV soundtrack, but if you grew up on Italian V8 operas, your soul will file a missing persons report. The flip side: the silence makes everything else louder. You hear the tires working. The road texture. The weight transfer through corners feels more surgical. It's Italian cinema instead of Italian opera — different drama, same country.

It's a luxury GT that happens to be electric rather than an electric car trying to be a GT. That distinction matters. Maserati built an EV that doesn't apologize for being electric but remembers it's still a Maserati.