New car news

24 August 2009 - 10:00

Roof party

See more Maserati GranCabrio pics

Life is good. Summer's on the way, the beaches are waiting... and Maserati has just revealed its gorgeous new convertible, the GranCabrio.

Pretty thing, ain't it? The GranCabrio is based on the two-door GranTurismo, and is the first-ever four-seat convertible in Maserati's history.

Unlike the slightly related Ferrari California, it gets a fabric soft-top instead of a metal roof, which is good news for weight, handling and aesthetics - check out that petite backside and tell us why you'd ever build a car with a folding hard-top.

The GranCabrio is powered by the same 4.7-litre V8 as in the GranTurismo S, putting out 322kW at a revvy 7,000rpm.

Which means it won't be slow: though Maser is yet to release performance figures, we'd expect the GranCabrio to hit 100km/h in around five and half seconds.

Even with that fabric roof, the GranCabrio (do you think we should shorten it to GC?) won't be a featherweight, exactly - with the structural reinforcements required to compensate for the lack of a fixed roof, it'll weigh in around the two-tonne mark.

But who cares? The GC (yep, we're going for it) isn't about Ferrari Scud Spider-rivalling open-top handling. It's about big sunglasses and clear skies and gorgeous coastal roads and, perchance, a trio of pneumatic ladies in the three passenger seats. And gelato.

We'll get a closer look at the Maserati GC at the Frankfurt show in a few weeks' time. Expect  to want one.