SHOT IN THE DARK

MASERATI SHOVES IN THE CHIPS ON A LONG-ODDS BET BUT WILL THE INTRIGUING MC20 REAP THE RETURNS?

- ANDY ENRIGHT

MASERATI IS A company without any great track record in building mid-engined sports cars. No, really. Prior to the arrival of the MC20, there were easily more mid-engined Renault 5s built than mid-engined Maseratis. Of more than 100 models the storied Italian manufacturer has built, only three featured the engine behind the driver.

Production of the Bora, built between 1971 and 1978, totalled a mere 564 units. The biggest contribution came from its junior sibling, the Merak, which saw 1830 cars roll from the plant at Viale Ciro Menotti in Modena between 1972 and 1983. Fifty customer MC12s were built between 2004 and 2005, with another 12 constructed as pure race cars. A total of 2444 cars doesn't seem much of a legacy to hang a halo from.

And yet here we are, standing on the roof of a car park in Melbourne, with Maserati's mid-engined flagship, the MC20, wondering quite what to make of it all. In many ways, the MC20 is a bold move. It sports a V6 beneath its rear deck in a market that, for the time being at least, still offers a number of very accomplished rivals with eight, 10 and 12-cylinder engines.

Then there's the fact that this undeniably niche model is being launched at a time when the one thing Maserati desperately needs is volume. At Maserati's centenary celebration in 2014, then-Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne took to the stage in trademark knitwear and made a bold prediction. In 2018, annual sales for Maserati will be 75,000 units or about five times what they are today,” he told a black-tie gathering of Maserati owners at the Reggia di Venario Reala. Maserati will not be the biggest luxury brand, but the best.” For a while it looked as if his claim was about to come true.