As much as we'd love to see a new GranTurismo sooner rather than later, the fact of the matter is, Maserati has bigger fish to fry right now. The Grecale is one of them, serving as a more affordable alternative to the Levante and allowing the folks from Modena to lure customers away from buying that Porsche Macan.
Our spies have finally been able to capture the more compact SUV, though the prototype was immortalised behind closed gates among other Stellantis prototypes from Jeep and Fiat. The test car appears to be hiding the full production body and even the alloy wheel design under a blue wrap with the vehicle's make and model serving as the theme.
Gallery: 2022 Maserati Grecale spy photos
The quad exhausts are a telltale sign we're dealing with a conventionally powered prototype, presumably the range-topping version with a twin-turbo V6 engine. A fully electric Grecale has been confirmed and there's a pretty good chance it will arrive at a later date. Meanwhile, the ICE-powered SUV will be debuting later this spring on the same Giorgio platform Alfa Romeo used for the Giulia saloon and high-riding Stelvio.
The days of Stellantis' billion-dollar platform could already be numbered as the world's fourth-largest automaker has outlined its electric-heavy agenda, and at least in Alfa's case, Giorgio is being dropped. The Grecale has been in development for a while and is expected to use these bones while offering mild-hybrid powertrains before the EV's arrival.
The Levante is getting a kid brother:
The prototype caught by our spies seemed to be white as denoted by the exposed metal on the tailgate, around the rearview camera. Chunky air intakes at the front further suggest it was a high-performance derivative, and while no interior shots are available, you can see in some of the photos there's no tablet-like infotainment sticking out from the centre console.
Following the world premiere scheduled in the weeks to come, the battery-powered variant is expected to break cover sometime in 2022 with the Folgore suffix (Italian for "lightning") and support for 300 kW fast-charging. The zero-emissions derivative will do battle with the next-generation Macan, which Porsche is developing exclusively as an EV and twinned with the Audi Q6 E-Tron.
Source: CarPix