In short, it won't be a sports car or a racing car, which is really unreasonable for such an Italian luxury sports car brand.
However, this is also a helpless move. Who made Maserati not launch a serious sports car for many years and faded out of all kinds of racing sports long ago?
Even Maserati has not launched a brand-new model for several years, and the situation is not good, which was once worrying.
It's different now. In the second half of 2020, Maserati released a brand-new engine and a brand-new supercar.
Since the engine has just been released, let's start with the engine.
Why is making engines Maserati's "old job"?
Maserati hasn't made its own engine since 2002 because it hasn't made its own engine for many years. The engines on its models are all from Ferrari's factory Maranello.
Because as early as 1997, Fiat Group had already handed over Maserati to Ferrari.
Although Maserati has a long history and many legends, its reputation is not as good as Ferrari's, so it is equipped with engines produced by Ferrari factory, which adds a lot of color to Maserati's models to some extent.
Only such cooperation is not a long-term solution, especially Ferrari, which has been operating independently since 20 15, and its current market value even exceeds that of its parent company FCA.
With the increase of production and sales year by year, Ferrari announced on 20 19 that it would no longer produce engines for Maserati after 2022.
At this time, you may think that Maserati is in big trouble.
In fact, Maserati is ready, and this preparation seems quite sufficient. This engine named Nettuno Poseidon was their first killer.
This is a 3.0L 90-degree V6 engine. Judging from the displacement and the number of cylinders, it seems that the momentum is not very strong. After all, the main models of Ferrari, McLaren and even AMG are V8 specifications.
But Poseidon has 630 horsepower, which undoubtedly overwhelmed all colleagues present.
More parameters are here. The cylinder diameter is 88mm, the stroke is 82mm, and the angle of 90 degrees is also a typical Apennine high-speed engine, which inevitably reminds people of the 2.9T engine carried by Alfa Romeo clover.
The 2.9T of the four-leaf clover is closely related to Ferrari, so Poseidon is the result of Maserati's own research and development, but it will be more or less related to Ferrari.
▲ Maserati even released the CAD drawings of Nettuno engine, which was very ostentatious.
7500 rpm output maximum horsepower, 3000-5500 rpm continue to provide 730Nm maximum torque. The maximum speed of the engine reaches 8000 rpm, which is not low in the turbine era.
It is worth noting that the compression ratio of Poseidon engine has reached111:1,which is much higher than that of similar super-running turbine engines (Ferrari F8 9.6: 1, Ferrari 488 9.4: 1, McLaren 650s8).
At this time, you will ask why the compression ratio of these super-running turbine engines is not as high as that of our ordinary family cars.
The main reason is that the supercharging value of the super-running turbine engine is high and it needs to reach a very high speed. Under extreme working conditions, too high compression ratio will cause uncontrollable detonation in the cylinder.
If the Germans mass-produce this pair of engines, they will either not solve it, the supercharge value will be too high or the compression ratio will be reduced.
So how did Maserati's Poseidon engine achieve such a high compression ratio?
The answer lies in the auxiliary combustion chamber. Poseidon engine adds a mini cylinder at the top of each cylinder. This mini cylinder has independent fuel injectors and spark plugs.
The micro-cylinder will inject fuel and ignite in advance before the spark plug of the conventional cylinder starts to ignite and burn.
The flame will be sprayed to all areas of the conventional cylinder at a faster speed through the opening at the lower part of the micro-cylinder, so that the conventional cylinder can burn the oil-gas mixture faster and more fully during the combustion work.
According to Rut Jun's understanding, this set is called "double spark plug precombustion chamber combustion system" (Twin? Spark) technology, whose purpose is similar to Mazda's SPCCI compression ignition technology, is to make the fuel in the cylinder burn more efficiently.
Their similarity is that the compression ratio is much higher than that of similar engines, and they are only used to realize lean combustion in different ways and under different working conditions.
Except twins? In addition to spark technology, Poseidon engine also uses dry oil pan, variable displacement oil pump and electric exhaust gas safety valve.
Therefore, this engine can be said to be a blockbuster, which is a big surprise after Maserati resumed its engine development and manufacturing work.
So what kind of super sports car will Poseidon ride?
Speaking of Maserati's sports car, the most famous one in recent years is probably MC 12, which has participated in many competitions on behalf of Maserati and can be said to be a crown in Maserati's history.
However, for MC 12, the most controversial thing is its origin-it is a twin car of Ferrari Enzo, the chassis and engine are based on Enzo, and the racing version is adjusted by Neptune himself.
However, Maserati with the name "MC" must have a lofty position.
▲MC 12
The first model of Poseidon engine is the brand-new MC20. Cleverly, the original versions of MC 12 and MC20 both had 630 horsepower, but in 2004, it needed 12 cylinders to reach this power. Now it can be achieved with only six cylinders and two turbines.
And it takes 3.8 seconds for MC 12 to accelerate from standstill to breakthrough 100, while MC20 can be completed in 2.9 seconds, and an 8-speed dual clutch gearbox is also indispensable.
The previous MC 12 stands for 12 cylinder. Why is the current MC20 20 cylinder?
This is because Maserati itself regards 2020 as the first year of Maserati's new journey.
Starting from 2020, Maserati will start again. After the long-lost sports car goes on the market, it will gradually update its models, and there will be many new moves, such as returning to a number of events and trying to create a new brand image.
In fact, from the appearance of MC20, it is not so aggressive, the overall lines are concise and convergent, there are no claws, the headlights are square, and the air intake is also a familiar shape. You may even think it's a little less interesting for super-running.
However, the MC20 also has some details that are worth savoring.
For example, car paint painting, Rutting Jun saw white and yellow MC20 at the auto show and appreciation meeting respectively, not pure white and yellow.
Instead, different components are added to the car paint, so that the car paint reflects the blue effect under the irradiation of light.
Especially the yellow MC20 seen at the tasting, the blue effect of reflection is very obvious.
This blue color also extends to the interior of the carriage. MC20' s seat grain stitching, soft handle of the inner side door and the grain of the door panel lining are all blue.
Most importantly, the driving mode adjustment option button is also a blue outer ring.
It is said that this is all because blue is actually a symbol of Modena, the city where Maserati is headquartered.
But to be honest, the carriage design of MC20 is really ordinary, and it relies on a large area of fur to create an atmosphere. For an Italian supercar, it's still a bit boring.
Like other mid-range supercars, we can see the real content of Poseidon engine through a transparent glass on the back of MC20.
Unfortunately, however, the MC20 currently on display in Chinese mainland has no real engine, because they are all trial production models.
What I want to say is actually this glass. You may think that the shape of the opening in this glass is strange and not very delicate. At first, Rut Jun felt the same way, but later it turned out that this "viewpoint" was wrong.
The "view" here really refers to how to look with the naked eye and how to look down. It's just some fragmentary graphics.
But this glass is actually for you to sit in the back of the car and face it squarely. At this time, you will find that these fragmentary graphics are Maserati's trident shape, which is a bit interesting.
Yes, Poseidon engine is awesome. With its help, the performance of MC20 will be quite strong, but in fact Maserati's actions are not limited to Poseidon and MC20.
Maserati announced earlier that it would enter the process of electrification, and the newly launched 2.0T light-mixed Ghibli was the first achievement, although the limelight was robbed by the 330-horsepower 2.0t. ...
But it is undeniable that in the near future, all Maserati models will be "electrified", including the MC20. Maserati said that the MC20 will have an electrified version, but did not specify whether it will be plug-in hybrid or pure electric.
For Maserati, how should we accept an electric car without exhaust sound?
The next step is related to the exhaust sound. After the launch of Poseidon engine, Maserati will probably not develop and manufacture an eight-cylinder engine because of its outstanding performance indicators.
Yes, other Maserati models will have the opportunity to use this Poseidon engine when they are replaced or redesigned.
Although we believe that Maserati can properly tame the exhaust sound of a six-cylinder engine, the sound of an eight-cylinder engine is always better.
In addition, Maserati's next very important product will be an SUV one size smaller than Levante, which may be called Grecale.
For Maserati, this will be an important product on the road to revival, and it will undertake the task of mass production. At present, people speculate that Grecale may be built with the architecture of Alfa Romeo stelvio.
As for the sales situation of MC20 in China market, there are actually not many places. There are only 75 vehicles in the first batch, 4 of which will be used as test drives. According to the information disclosed by Maserati, the remaining 7 1 car is almost reserved.
After all, the 630-horsepower supercar only sold 265,438+million, which is worthwhile, and the MC20 is of epoch-making significance.
Again, who knows when the Italians will do the same thing next time.
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