Shortly after Maserati unveiled the MC20, the Italian supercar maker said that they’ll also be adding a convertible and an electric variant to the line-up. Well, the first of the two have now finally been announced some two years later, and it’s called the Maserati MC20 Cielo.
Cielo means sky in Italian, and it’s because you’ll be seeing a whole lot of that. Not only when the roof is down (duh), but also even when it’s fully covered up, because the retractable hardtop is made out of electrochromic glass on the top panel that can turn from opaque to clear at just a touch of a button.
Maserati says that the glass roof is the “largest in the segment”, with a surface area of more than half a square metre. Folding down the roof completely into the new rear deck behind the passenger compartment also only takes 12 seconds, which is up there among the best of the best.
Aside from the new roof, however, the rest of the MC20 Cielo is pretty much identical to the coupe – even the carbon fibre tub chassis and butterfly roof have also been carried over.
Power still comes from the same Nettuno 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 engine making 630 hp and 730 Nm of torque, and the eight-speed dual-clutch transmission and suspension set-up are also unchanged from before.
The addition of a folding roof mechanism on the MC20 does add a slight weight penalty, but Maserati says they’ve managed to keep the bloat to just 65 kg. Performance figures understandably took a hit, albeit a modest one – taking 0.1 seconds more to hit 100 km/h from a standstill (3.0 seconds compared to 2.9), and four tenths longer to 200 km/h at 9.2 seconds.
Top speed, meanwhile, is now rated at 320 km/h instead of “over 325 km/h”.
The Cielo will share the various new upgrades introduced to the coupe for the 2023 model year, including the new parking sensors, rear-view camera, and blind-spot monitoring system, alongside additions of autonomous emergency braking, traffic sign information, and a new 360-degree surround view monitor.
Inside, there’s also a new “digital touch” rotary drive mode selector on the centre console, with a digital touchpad at its centre that allows the driver to also tweak the car’s suspension settings using the same rotary dial.
As for aesthetics, the launch car in these photos features a new three-layer pale blue metallic colour called Acquamarina, and will be available via the company’s Fuoriserie customisation programme. Maserati will also be making “around 60” PrimaSerie Launch Edition models for the MC20 Cielo, showcasing the new hue, alongside the new gold Roman numeral-inspired MM20 wheels and PrimaSerie badging.
Pricing information is not available just yet, but we expect a slight increase over the standard Coupe model, which goes for around GBP187k (approx. RM1.03 million) in the UK.
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Keyword: Maserati wants you to embrace the sky with the drop-dead gorgeous MC20 Cielo