With more power, a faster gearshift and a distinctively aggressive look, Maserati has taken the GranCabrio convertible to a new level of performance with the new Maserati GranCabrio Sport.
Maserati GranCabrio Sport has given Maserati a harder-edged convertible to sit alongside the GranTurismo S and the Quattroporte Sport GT S as the performance flagships of their respective ranges.
With a 285km/h top speed and a 0-100km/h sprint of just 5.2 seconds, the Maserati GranCabrio Sport is brimming with performance and luxury refinements both inside the cabin and underneath its award-winning body panels.
A six-speed transmission that includes a super-fast MC Auto Shift mode, handling that has been enhanced for greater speed, an upgrade and revision of the Skyhook active-suspension system and the adoption of a more-responsive brake package, the GranCabrio Sport looks set to take top-down driving to a whole new level.
Visually, the Maserati GranCabrio Sport is characterized by a more-pronounced dynamic look. This look begins with the GranCabrio's distinctive nose and continues with a host of small, perfectly integrated changes throughout the body and the interior.
The Sport debuts a new colour, Rosso Trionfale - a classic red that pays tribute to the championship-winning Maserati racing cars of the 1950s. It's a colour that highlights the Maserati GranCabrio Sport's strong personality, yet maintains its elegant and slim look.
The strong, distinctive GranCabrio grille receives even more character with a new black colour, while the grille's Maserati Trident receives the red accents that are reserved for the fastest car in each of Maserati's model ranges. These red accents are also found on the Quattroporte Sport GT S and the GranTurismo S.
Besides adding to the aggressive style, the side skirts and the corner splitters were developed in the wind tunnel and add significantly to the car's aerodynamic efficiency reducing aerodynamic resistance and improving fuel consumption.
The dynamic look is finished with redesigned 20" Astro-design wheels and a pair of menacing, black oval exhaust tips. The wheels each feature three Tridents and create a lighter look to accentuate the higher performance.
The more-aggressive look is carried over inside the open-topped cabin, with a new seat-face design and drilled aluminium pedals. The Maserati GranCabrio Sport debuts two new interior colours in rich leather: Bianco Pregiato and Grigio Chrono. Bianco Pregiato is a more-pure white colour than the existing pearl colour and can be used everywhere except the top of the dashboard. Grigio Chrono is a darker grey, developed to complement the new Rosso Trionfale body colour. To differentiate it further from the standard GranCabrio, the Maserati GranCabrio Sport badge will be positioned on the dashboard in front of the passenger.
The Maserati GranCabrio Sport introduces changes to the gear-shifting system, with Maserati's Active Shifting paddles now standard. The paddles, drawn from the Trofeo racing car, are longer than the standard steering column-mounted paddles and make shifting easier in enthusiastic driving.
The Maserati GranCabrio Sport uses the latest version of Maserati's sonorous, all-alloy 4.7-litre V8, taken straight from the high-performance GranTurismo MC Stradale. It produces 450 bhp, 10hp more than the GranCabrio, with a peak of 510Nm (20Nm more than the GranCabrio) arriving at 4750rpm. Eighty percent of its maximum torque is already available at just 2500rpm.
Another cool feature is the super-fast MC Auto Shift mode that has been developed for the Maserati GranCabrio Sport directly from the transmission in the Quattroporte Sport GT S. The MC Auto Shift mode contains a launch-control mode and is active in both Manual Sport and Automatic Sport modes to provide faster gearshift times and to automatically "blip" the throttle during down-shifts. Cool stuff.