Maserati’s second-generation GranTurismo left us silent or bewildered. “Is that new?” we wondered after seeing the attractive but familiar pattern. When we learned the same long-hood, short-deck GT with a conventional profile would have two powertrains, we were even more baffled. Battery-electric cars and coupes with twin-turbo V-6 engines can be driven in luxury. Maserati’s head of design, Klaus Buses, said they intended to maintain the Trident brand’s classic style and strength. “We can keep the car’s low profile because we’re not putting anything under the front seats,” he says of the electric pieces. Maserati’s pack is unusual and takes up space behind the back seats, in the transmission tunnel, and in the engine compartment. Most of its competitors use floor-mounted battery packs, making the car higher. The style is also attractive. Buses says the automobile understeers when the batteries are in the back due to their massive gravitational pull. Dual powertrain options will be available until 2030, even though the business plans to move to all-electric cars by 2030 and develop BEV-only models. Maserati will electrify its Gracile SUV. Multi-engine car Not Maserati. BMW is reconsidering selling electric cars under its I sub brand after the 2014 i3’s success. The 4-series Gran Coupe and 7-series luxury cars with battery-electric, plug-in hybrid, or internal combustion engines are the company’s main focus [see “Green Is Good,” page 48]. However, it can produce a one-time battery-electric model like the fix, which has numerous spectacular design characteristics. BMW design chief Domigoj Dukec adds, “We don’t think the switch to electric will happen overnight.” “The brand wants to make sure that customers are happy with both ICE and BEV offerings,” he explains. Dukec promises BMW will always drive energetically. Whether gas, diesel, or plug-in hybrid, it will be happy. Electricity makes it busy too. BMW may make more or less of any powertrain to meet market demands with this flexible strategy. He feels the best confusion handler will win. Land Rover is following suit. Range Rover and five additional Land Rover models will have combustion engines, plug-in hybrids, or electric drivetrains. The US will not have all electric possibilities. Automakers All power to the electric Land Rover Jaguar pioneered BEV technology. The 2019 I-Pace uses a different approach. It expects to release several electric cars this decade, starting with luxury SUVs. Volvo contributes heavily. To go all-electric by 2030 and replace its current models with battery-powered automobiles, the firm has stopped making new internal-combustion engines. The electric 2024 EX90 will eventually replace the XC90, starting this trend. Volvo strategy and brand design head Owen Ready believes the firm has never been known for its engines. “This prepares us.” Cadillac unexpectedly follows. It showed off the 2025 Escalade IQ, its next-generation electric SUV, and announced the redesigned Escalade is its last ICE vehicle. Like the new Lyrid SUV and Celeste premium automobile, all Caddy’s will be electric. Mercedes Changing Roads Mercedes-Benz is choosing two paths in this decade of transition. Mercedes-Benz builds a wide range of parallel BEVs alongside their ICE automobiles. EQS and EQE electric S- and E-class automobiles use distinct platforms. Benz’s head of exterior design, Robert Lesnik, argues, “Purpose architecture deserves a purpose” when comparing the three-box arrangement of its cars to the arcing bow shape of its electric vehicles. Famous carmakers Honda and Kia follow the same approach. Honda wants the Pilot and Civic to coexist alongside its Prologue electric mid-size SUV and cheap EVs. All were made with GM. The Seltos and Telluride were Kia’s two-row electric EV6 and three-row EV9. Both brands may build tailpipe automobiles after 2030. Mercedes’ parallel track will end in 2020 or one car generation. Then, the corporation will go all-electric. “Like a jacket zipper,” Lesnik says. “By the end of the decade, everything will be electric, and the zipper will be back together.”
