• The GranCabrio Folgore is the only electric convertible available in the U.S.

• Faster and more fluid, the electric GranCabrio Folgore one-ups the gas-powered Trofeo

• The $206,995 Maserati GranCabrio Folgore arrives this fall 

The invite said we’d get to experience both the electric 2025 Maserati GranCabrio Folgore and gas-powered GranCabrio Trofeo convertibles. But the extra hook for me, Mr. Lake Life, was the electric Maserati boat.

Maserati spokesperson Matt Rindone told me over the phone I could absolutely drive this electric boat—just fly to Italy, we’ll drive some cars, and I can captain the boat. Sold.

I should’ve gotten receipts in writing that I could drive the boat.

Instead, weeks later, I spent a day cruising the Italian countryside in both the electric- and gas-powered variants of the new Maserati GranCabrio. Both are scintillating and distill what Maserati is today and what it’s moving towards tomorrow.

But it’s the electric Folgore you want. Maserati’s made its topless grand tourer quicker and ride better all without detracting from the experience. There’s even noise, just of a different kind.

Welcome to the electric convertible era.

Maserati GranCabrio Folgore rips while Trofeo crackles

After I wired up with a cappuccino or three I slipped in behind the wheel of an orange GranCabrio Folgore. Wait, is that a blue start button mounted on the steering wheel? Smitten. 

I pulled out of a narrow alley, holding my breath. This big boy needed 41 feet to turn in a circle. No one at Maserati told me why other than to say, “it’s complicated.” I could understand if you explained it to me, promise. 

On the street the three 300-kw (402 hp) electric motors, one up front and two in the rear, combine for 760 hp to slingshot this 5,249-pound monster from 0-60 mph in 2.8 seconds. That’s 0.1 second slower than the electric GranTurismo coupe. The 92.5-kwh (83.0 kwh usable) T-shaped battery stowed in the driveline tunnel and behind the rear seats feeds those motors, but power output is limited, today. It’s the inverters. Those motors are capable of a combined output of 1,200 hp, and with time power could be increased. Maserati’s competing in Formula E for a reason.

Maserati didn’t let us charge the Folgore or fully discharge its battery. Its 800-volt electrical architecture is said to enable fast-charging from 20% to 80% in 18 minutes and add 48 miles of range in 5 minutes. Official EPA range ratings aren’t out yet, but Maserati expects the GranCabrio Folgore to have about 250 miles of range.

The road twisted once we broke free of town. Maserati’s lead technician at the program, Filippo Pensotti, cruised just ahead of me in a red GranTurismo Trofeo coupe. I had it set to Max Range mode, which put a damper on things. I clicked to GT mode and undamped it, but the powertrain still felt corked until I flicked the steering wheel-mounted dial to Sport mode. Pop went the powertrain’s cork. The red GranTurismo rounded a corner and barreled down a straight, but it simply doesn’t have the power or speed of the Folgore. 

Flicking the drive mode selector knob to Corsa mode firmed up the suspension further and the air springs lowered the car. Too low. Under compression from the sharp turns I now scraped the underside of the front bumper, so back to Sport mode I went. 

The two electric motors in the rear enable torque vectoring to shift the power side-to-side while going around a corner. Unless someone—possibly me— went faster than they should on a public road, it’s transparent and can’t be felt.

Blasting through the rock-walled canyons in the hills of Italy the Folgore wasn’t completely silent, but it didn’t roar like Maseratis of yore. A synthesized sound from the inverter and electric motors rocks throughout the cabin. It’s a mechanical sound that has a faint hint of gear whine with a bit of grit to it, as if you’re hearing the actual electric motor windings spin up and down. It’s just enough to give the impression you’re accelerating and decelerating without feeling completely fake. I liked it.

GranCabrio can cruise or blast

Maserati’s team said the point of the GranCabrio is that it could be driven from northern Italy to northern Germany in comfort and style, but stop off at the Nürburgring for a hot lap.

In a theoretical situation that someone found themselves going at ‘Ring-lapping speeds, the Maserati team isn’t wrong. In Corsa mode a battery temp graph on the right side of the digital gauge cluster keeps tabs on the power source. Should too much heat get put in the pack with repeated hard acceleration runs and/or from hard braking, which regenerates energy into the battery pack, the car will limit power until the system cools down. But outside of the Autobahn or a race track it’s hard to see a situation when this could occur without someone going to jail. Theoretically. 

Those brakes have four levels of regen ranging from maximum D= (double minus) to D+ all controlled by the metal column-mounted paddles. The latter mode removes all regen and allows sailing with no slowing down unless the driver hits the brakes. The former induces the most regen, but it’s still not enough for one-pedal driving. I found D- to be most similar to engine braking, but used D= most of the day as it shed speed more quickly, fed energy back into the battery pack, and still felt predictable in a way Mercedes’ EQ team hasn’t figured out yet with its regenerative braking system.

Sliding out of the Folgore into the gas-powered Trofeo wasn’t as dramatic a change as one might expect. The Trofeo’s 3.0-liter twin-turbo V-6 grinds 542 hp and 479 lb-ft of torque into the pavement. With a 0-60 mph sprint of 3.4 seconds it’s noticeably slower than the Folgore. It can’t push the small of my back into the seat as roughly as the Folgore. It needs to interrupt power for the 8-speed automatic transmission to shift, too. 

The Trofeo crackles under hard acceleration with the active exhaust valves open. It sounds good for a V-6, and tunnel runs induce big smiles. But the ride is the most vivid difference between the GranCabrio Folgore and Trofeo.The Folgore weighs 933 pounds more than the Trofeo. That heft can be felt around a corner with the Trofeo rotating more quickly—but the extra weight settles the GranCabrio’s ride. Even at high speeds in Corsa mode, the suspension settles easily over undulating pavement in the Folgore whereas the Trofeo can feel firm, even a little nervous.

With the soft top down there’s not a lot of wind swirling around the cabin, even at highway speed. Two people can talk and hear each other easily. Putting the top up hushes the cabin to a coupe-like degree. 

Maserati GranCabrio Folgore dresses the part

Both the gas Trofeo and electric Folgore slink down the road with a long hood, short rear deck, swollen fenders, and low ride height. Regardless of powertrain the car wears fender vents like cufflinks. The distinct giveaway of what’s powering the electric Folgore vs. the gas-powered Trofeo are the staggered 20-inch front and 21-inch rear wheel designs, a lack of air intakes on the front bumper, a charge port door on the driver side of the rear bumper, and the lack of exhaust tips. 

The Folgore’s wheel design looks better than the Trofeo’s with a three-spoke-like treatment. If you squint the wheels look like they are throwing three tridents as they spin. They almost remind me of a classier iteration of the first-gen Dodge Viper’s three-spoke alloys, though I’m guessing that wasn’t the inspiration for head of Maserati design Klaus Busse.

Maserati GranCabrio’s interior goes digital

 Regardless of powertrain the GranCabrio has the same interior as the coupe. That means a 12.2-inch digital gauge cluster paired with a 12.3-inch touchscreen sitting above an 8.8-inch screen housing the climate and vehicle controls.

The digital screens sit up in a leather-lined interior with knurled bits and metal speaker grille covers that feel cool to the touch and as if they could grate cheese. Everything feels like a luxury car should, and as if it were screwed together by people that actually take pride in their work. This is no Tesla Roadster, if that thing ever somehow materializes again.

As elegant as the interior looks, chopping the top off presents a few usability issues. With the top down in direct sunlight it’s nearly impossible to see the touch-based radio volume slider next to the 12.3-inch touchscreen. It washes out. Sunlight also bleaches out the icons on the steering wheel’s buttons, which control the cruise control system and digital gauge cluster. Closing, or opening, the top is controlled by the 8.8-inch touchscreen and requires one tap to even access the menu, then you must slide and hold an icon for the 14 seconds it takes to open or 16 seconds it takes to close the top.   

Folgores get what feels like neoprene seat inserts that seem a bit out of place in a luxury car. Maserati noted this material is sustainable, but I’d go for the available leather like a heathen. The Trofeo comes standard with leather.

Maserati GranCabrio seats four

At least that’s what Maserati said. It’s true, there are four seats in the GranCabrio, both gas and electric, like the GranTurismo coupe. At 5-foot-10 I sat in the rear seat with the front in my usual driving position. Was it comfortable? No. What’s your point? I’d sit there to run to Blue Bottle and I’d be out. This isn’t a grand touring four-seater, it’s a 2+2.

Maserati claimed the trunk could hold bags for all four occupants. Unless those bags are backpacks I’m not sure how. With the top up there’s 5.3 cubic feet of space, and with the top down, thanks to a divider that swings down, that shrinks to 4.0 cubic feet of space. Pack lightly because that long front hood doesn’t open and there’s no front trunk.

An electric Maserati boat named Tridente

At 2.5 million Euros, which is about $2.6 million at current exchange rates, this electric boat is not the same as the fishing boat or deck boat our family has.

Maserati teamed up with Vita Power to create the Tridente luxury boat that’s 34 feet long with a carbon fiber hull.

It’s electric, which is the tie-in with the GranCabrio Folgore. When the Maserati team tried to get me behind the wheel the boat’s handler looked me in the eyes without flinching and said, “insurance.” That was the end of the discussion.

Hand raisers, it’ll take 9 months to get your Tridente so place orders quickly.

GranCabrio Folgore’s price doesn’t even matter

When the 2025 GranCabrio Trofeo arrives in the U.S. this summer it will cost $193,995 including a $1,995 destination charge. But the 2025 GranCabrio Folgore will cost $206,995 including that destination charge when it arrives this fall. The $13,000 delta presents an interesting decision for buyers. You could spend that much just on options when ordering a Trofeo, and it would still be slower. 

Then there’s the Lexus LC 500 convertible, which only costs $107,300. You can do a lot of things with an extra $100,000, though the LC 500 convertible doesn’t handle quite as well as the Maserati GranCabrio.

Oh, and wait: the LC 500, not to mention anything else on the market today, can’t be had as an all-electric convertible. For that single reason the Maserati GranCabrio Folgore stands alone with no true challenger.

It’s also a straight-up bargain when considering an electric Maserati boat costs $2.6 million. Maybe next time I can get to drive the boat and tell you what it’s like from behind the wheel. Next time, I’ll make sure to get that in writing.

Maserati paid for travel and lodging to bring you this test drive review of a car, not a boat, not that we’re bitter.