Modena - Maserati has announced an open top version of its MC20 supercar for those customers who want a bit more sky in their lives, and a mini hurricane in their hair.
The MC20 Cielo (meaning ‘sky’ in Italian) retains most of the design features seen on the tin-top version, including its ‘butterfly’ doors.
Setting it apart is a ‘smart glass’ roof panel that uses polymer-dispersed liquid crystal technology to transform from transparent to opaque at the touch of a button. The roof, which is said to offer best-in-class thermal insulation, can do its opening and closing thing in just 12 seconds, Maserati says.
One of the MC20 coupe’s most impressive attributes is that it weighs less than 1.5 tonnes, and thanks to some careful weight management the Cielo weighs just 65kg more in spite of all the necessary reinforcements that were made to the open top model.
As with its sibling, the MC20 Cielo is built around a carbon fibre chassis, which is not only instrumental in keeping the weight down, but also does wonders for the car’s torsional rigidity.
As with the coupe, power comes from Maserati’s Nettuno 3.0-litre V6 turbopetrol engine, which boasts an innovative combustion chamber design derived from Formula One. Each cylinder has a dual combustion chamber that includes a pre-chamber positioned between the central spark plug and the conventional chamber. When use of this pre-chamber is not necessary, a side spark plug ensures smooth combustion through the conventional combustion chamber.
Maserati hasn’t mentioned power or performance figures for the Cielo, but expect it to match the tin-top’s output of 463kW, and to at least come close to its sibling’s 2.9-second 0-100km/h sprint time.
As for the aesthetics, Maserati is offering a launch version of the MC20 Cielo with a new three-layer metallic colour called Acquaramarina, which, the company says, interacts with light to reveal itself in a surprising way. The base is a racing-inspired pastel grey and it’s accompanied by an iridescent aquamarine mica designed to enliven the hue.
As striking as this car is, though, Maserati insists that the exterior design is all about functionality.
“Nothing is superfluous in the design; everything has its own function. The only concession to a surprise effect is the butterfly doors, as in the MC20 super sports car,” Maserati says.
“The new spyder is a car with an elegant yet highly sporty design. Its character and personality are truly eye-catching for the purity of its forms and the refined aerodynamics subjected to 360° testing in a wind tunnel, whether the roof is open or closed.”