Maserati is in the midst of a brand overhaul. After committing to a full EV lineup in just three years and debuting a rather powerful but small crossover in the Grecale, the brand dropped an all-new supercar, the MC20. That makes it Maserati’s first supercar since the MC12 over 15 years ago. Now the brand has launched a new variant of the MC20, the Cielo.
Everything about the Cielo’s drivetrain is the same as the regular MC20. It’s powered by the same 621-horsepower V6 and eight-speed dual-clutch transmission. The difference is in the roof.
Cielo roughly translates to sky in English, and you’ll see plenty of it in the MC20 Cielo, as it gets a unique retractable glass roof. Maserati describes it as “equipped with a state-of-the-art electrochromic (smart glass) window that can instantly be transformed from clear to opaque at the touch of a button on the central screen, courtesy of Polymer-Dispersed Liquid Crystal (PDLC) technology. The roof is also best-in-class in terms of thermal insulation and of opening and closing speed (just 12 seconds).”
If you’re like me, you looked at this thing you’re wondering just where the hell the roof folds into. The entire rear panel comes up to let the roof in. It’s slick but bigger than I expected. The Cielo also gets a High Premium Sonus Faber audio system that’s specific to the Cielo. According to Maserati, the audio system has been tuned for the “unique acoustic and positioning needs of the spyder’s cabin.”
With any car like this, all this mechanical complexity adds weight. Maserati seems to be trying to assure people that weight won’t affect performance. With the top and its parts, the Cielo weighs just 143 pounds more than the coupe which results in an 0.1-second drop in the zero to 60 time. The MC20 Cielo is set to go on sale soon. And while there’s no word on price yet, it should cost a bit more than the MC20 coupe’s $212,000 MSRP.