First Drive: The 2025 Maserati Grecale Folgore Gets Held Back by Its Own Tech
The 2025 Maserati Grecale Folgore, the new electric-powered version of the marque’s midsized SUV, is a hugely important vehicle for the Italian automaker, as the internal-combustion-engine (ICE) Grecale now accounts for 70 percent of Maserati’s worldwide sales.
The Folgore looks virtually identical to its ICE siblings. The Maserati grille has been cleverly reworked, the vertical bars now transformed into vertical vents that cool the electric power train’s components. The large vents in the front bumper have body-colored infills, as do the indents in the rear bumper designed to accommodate the quad exhaust outlets of the V-6-powered Grecale Trofeo. The signature porthole vents on the front quarter panels remain, but instead of channeling air they now light up when you unlock the car.
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The interior is familiar, too, differing from the other models in the Grecale lineup only in details such as the unique embossed pattern on the dash and copper-accented carbon trim. The 14-way sports seats are trimmed in fabric made from recycled nylon fish nets and have laser-etched details.
The Grecale Folgore also shares a lot of hardware under the skin with its ICE variants. It rolls on a modified version of the Giorgio platform that underpins the rest of the Grecale range, with cast and extruded aluminum subframes at the front and rear of the car cradling the e-motors and providing pickup points for the standard air suspension. And Maserati engineers have been able to package the 105 kWh battery pack under the floor while retaining the same seating position as the ICE Grecale. As for the 114.3-inch wheelbase, it’s .4 inches longer than that of the new Porsche Macan EV.
The vehicle is driven by identical permanently excited synchronous magnet e-motors mounted at the front and rear axles to deliver all-wheel drive. Total output is 550 hp, with 605 ft lbs of torque available the moment you mash the accelerator pedal. The claimed rate of acceleration for the SUV is zero to 60 mph in less than 4.1 seconds, and the top speed is 136 mph.
The battery powering the e-motors, which has a useable capacity of 96 kWh, comprises 33 six-cell modules, some of which are stacked under the rear seat. The touted 310-mile range on the WLTP test cycle (which suggests an EPA-rated range of perhaps 250 miles) is not class leading, and the Grecale Folgore’s 400-volt electrical architecture means slower charge times.
The maximum charge rate the Grecale Folgore’s battery will accept is 150 kW, and it supposedly takes 29 minutes to go from a 20 percent state of charge to 80 percent. By contrast, the batteries in Porsche’s all-electric Macan, or even Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 and Kia’s EV6—all of which have 800-volt electrical architectures—can be taken from a 10 percent state of charge to 80 percent in 22 minutes or less. Note the double whammy: It takes longer to put less range into the Maserati.
On top of that, while other EV manufacturers routinely recommend recharging when the battery’s state of charge reaches 10 percent, Maserati says the Grecale Folgore’s battery should be topped up when its state of charge drops to 20 percent to prolong its operating life. That narrower effective operating window suggests that the vehicle will need to be plugged in more often than its rivals, which may be why it comes standard with a 22 kW on-board charger, and why Maserati will also supply and install a 22 kW wallbox charger in your garage at no extra cost.
This battery-powered Grecale is fast, but not as fast as the similarly priced Grecale Trofeo. The latter gets to 60 mph in a time that’s .3 seconds quicker, and the Trofeo tops out at 177 mph thanks to a 523 hp, wet-sump version of the 3.0-liter turbocharged Nettuno V-6 from the MC20 supercar. And Porsche’s new battery-powered Macan Turbo simply destroys the Grecale Folgore in a straight line, its 630 hp (with overboost) and 833 ft lbs of torque getting it to 60 mph in 3.1 seconds and to a top speed of 162 mph.
That said, this Grecale’s performance is, as you’d expect of an EV, effortless—at least in a straight line. Throw some corners into the mix, however, and this midsize SUV doesn’t feel quite so effortless. Four drive modes are available. The default start-up mode is GT, which makes 80 percent of the power and torque available. Sport mode stiffens the suspension, lowers the ride height just over .5 inches, and delivers 100 percent of the e-motors’ output, noticeably sharpening the response to the accelerator. MaxRange mode does exactly what it says, dialing back the output by as much as 50 percent, limiting the top speed to 80 mph, and reducing the climate-control system’s power to conserve energy and boost range. Off-Road mode raises the ride height 1.4 inches above the GT setting. As for regenerative braking, drivers can also adjust the level via paddles behind the steering wheel, from none at all to a level that allows for one-pedal driving.
Our test cars were on the optional 21-inch alloy wheels with 255/40 Pirelli P Zeros at the front and 295/35 tires at the rear. Even in GT mode the primary ride is firm, and the Pirellis communicated every crevice and notch of the roads on our route through southern Puglia in Italy. Getting ambitious with the accelerator also occasionally induced noticeable torque steer on uneven surfaces. And Sport mode induced plenty of sharp vertical motions through the cabin that increased as speeds rose.
The steering is accurate, but doesn’t provide much feedback, and the inert brake pedal makes precise modulation of brake efforts difficult. Speaking of which, if you left-foot brake, the power-train control system won’t let you squeeze the accelerator as you simultaneously come off the brake; in fact, it aggressively cuts the power, showing you a finger-wagging warning message on the dash.
After a bit of experimentation, we found that selecting Sport mode, adjusting the spring and dampers back to the softer GT settings, and reducing the regen to zero made the Grecale Folgore feel the most composed when driven briskly. We suspect the suspension calibration, significantly stiffer than that of the Grecale Trofeo, is about attempting to manage this EV’s mass, a byproduct of the fact that, at 5,467 pounds, it weighs 23 percent more than the V-6-powered model. Whatever the reason, the fact is that at speed, the Folgore never feels as coherent as the Trofeo. Nor is it as comfortable as the four-cylinder Grecale GT and Modena models at low speeds.
That, combined with the usability issues inherent in the 400-volt electrical architecture and the fact the battery has a narrower recommended operating window, means this electric-powered Maserati feels somewhat compromised, particularly in the context of Porsche’s new zero-emissions Macan, its most obvious rival.
Maserati has yet to confirm U.S. pricing, other than to say the Grecale Folgore will sticker for just over $100,000 when it goes on sale in July. That’s quite a premium over the $79,650 that Porsche is charging for the entry-level Macan 4 Electric, and right on par with the Macan Turbo Electric, which is priced at $106,950. As a counterpoint, though, this Maserati has standard equipment that would add thousands to the price of a Macan (get carried away on the Porsche configurator and you can easily spend more than $45,000 on options for a Turbo Electric).
Maserati’s Gran Turismo Folgore, whose 800-volt electric power train punches out 761 hp and 996 ft lbs of torque, aptly demonstrates the 109-year-old automaker’s capabilities when it comes to electrification. The Grecale Folgore is less convincing.
Click here for more photos of the 2025 Maserati Grecale Folgore.
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