Wired in Parallel

Electric motors and combustion engines are packaged differently, but for some companies, shared platforms still make the most business sense.

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When Maserati unveiled its handsome second generation GranTurismo coupe, our initial response was a bit muted, even muddled. "Is that new?" we asked of the lovely but familiar design. This sense of confoundment grew when we discovered that the automaker would offer this exact vehicle-a-long-hood, short-deck GT with a conventional profile in two disparate powertrain configurations.

Buyers can tour grandly in a coupe with a twin-turbo V-6 internal-combustion engine (ICE) or in a battery electric vehicle (BEV), but you might not guess from the outside that the insides are different.

Maserati design head Klaus Busse says a desire to maintain the traditional design and dynamic sensibilities for which the trident brand is known dictated this move. "We can keep the low silhouette of the car because we're not putting anything under the front seats," he says of the decision regarding placement of electric components. Unlike many competitors that incorporate a height-raising battery pack in the floor, Maserati's uniquely shaped pack occupies the engine compartment, the transmission tunnel, and some space behind the rear seats.

The arrangement isn't just for aesthetics. "When you have the batteries underneath the seats all the way outboard, then the car tends to understeer because you have all these gravitational forces of the batteries," Busse says. "By keeping the batteries central, you avoid these gravitational forces, and you avoid understeer."

Though the brand plans to go all-electric by 2030 and will eventually introduce BEV-only designs, the dual powertrain offerings will continue through this decade. Maserati will electrify its Grecale SUV in the same fashion.