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This week, Maserati showed us what amounts to the core of its 2027 lineup. Freshly painted and wearing updated grilles, the facelifted GranTurismo, GranCabrio, and Grecale represent the company’s “volume,” so to speak. Maserati is counting on them to carry the Italian luxury maker through the near term. But then what?

During a Q&A session that followed the unveiling of these updated models, Maserati executives fielded questions not just about the two- and four-door vehicles they’d shown us, but about the future of Maserati itself—a future that, among other things, likely includes V8 power and a new, reimagined sedan.

“We have one of the best—if not the best—V6s in the world,” Maserati Chief Operating Officer Santo Ficili said.

And Ficili said the team’s immediate goal was to exploit that six-cylinder’s capabilities to its fullest extent. But he conceded there are segments of the market that simply won’t settle for smaller engines, and many of those buyers are in the market for high-end luxury vehicles.

“Of course, we are also considering the V8,” Ficili said.

Engineering boss Davide Danesin echoed Ficili’s sentiment, pointing out the V6’s flexibility, but also acknowledging that it made sense to keep a V8 design on the table.

“We have the knowledge; we have the capability,” Danesin said.

And at this point, even without a V8 on the official roadmap, it’s more likely to happen than a plug-in hybrid. The company is actively exploring opportunities to expand its 48-volt mild hybrid architecture, which is likely to percolate throughout the lineup over time. Full hybrid powertrains are also on the table, Danesin told us. But PHEVs? Don’t count on it.

Danesin noted that Maserati has access to all three levels of hybrid tech within the company’s broader “technological portfolio,” but played down the idea of a plug-in hybrid being compatible with its sales mission, citing both the weight and the fact that many customers simply don’t plug them in, making the batteries a waste of space (and mass).

So far, so good, right? Now, what about the future of Quattroporte?

Maserati’s iconic sedan remains on indefinite hiatus. It was supposed to be replaced by an EV. But both Ficili and Cristiano Fiorio, the company’s chief marketer, think there’s a future for four-doors at the automaker.

“Absolutely yes,” Fiorio said. “I believe that sedan will come back.”

Fiorio noted that Gen Z and Gen Alpha are both what the company refers to as “retro-seeking” buyers. They’re starting to reject the oversized and over-digitized cars that have grown popular in recent decades. “The world is full of SUVs,” he said.

And while Grecale helps Maserati fill the hole left by the Quattroporte, the company recognizes that there are buyers who want a true executive sedan. Fiorio thinks there’s room there for a new entry, but that the notion of a sedan itself might have to evolve a bit with the times.

“Quattroporte is looking for something new,” he said.

We’ll have to wait to find out exactly what that looks like.

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BMW shook up the 24 Hours of Le Mans by pulling the covers off its latest creation: the M Concept Neue Klasse. Officially, the German automaker describes this vehicle as an “exploratory look” at the design direction for upcoming high-performance models. In reality, we exactly know what this vehicle represents. It functions as a thinly veiled, near-production blueprint for the electric M3. Rumors suggest it might officially arrive in dealerships wearing an i3M badge, but it is undeniably the flagbearer for the performance division’s transition into electric cars.

To ensure traditional car enthusiasts do not lose sleep over this shift, BMW media coordinators strategically parked the low-slung, bright red prototype next to an iconic E30 M3 for official photographs. This clever marketing attempts to link the classic, lightweight analog hero of the 1980s with a heavy, computer-controlled battery-powered machine, though making that connection requires a healthy dose of imagination. Purists might struggle to accept an i-badge on a vehicle that historically relied on high-revving internal combustion engines, but BMW wants the public to know that the spirit of track-focused engineering remains alive in modern EVs.

Visually, the new concept shares its basic greenhouse and roofline with the standard i3 sedan that debuted not so long ago. That’s where the similarities end – the performance engineers clearly spent a lot of time restructuring the rest of the bodywork. The concept gets flared front and rear fenders that dramatically widen the car’s overall footprint. Custom front and rear bumpers include massive cooling intakes that draw inspiration from multi-hulled racing sailboats. Instead of traditional headlights, the front fascia receives cube-shaped LED units that the brand refers to as “track lights,” combined with a prominent ducktail spoiler at the rear to manage airflow.

The prototype wears a striking coat of Monza Red metallic paint, while dark aerodynamic pieces create a sharp visual contrast. BMW manufactured the front splitter, side skirts, rear diffuser, hood scoop, and roof entirely from exposed natural fiber materials rather than standard carbon fiber. Striking yellow daytime running lights illuminate the front end, paying direct homage to endurance racing cars. The vehicle rolls on track-ready, center-lock wheels set with a lot of negative camber, which angles the top of the wheels inward to improve cornering grip. A widened track and lowered suspension setup complete the aggressive stance.

The track-oriented theme continues directly into the cabin. The dashboard preserves the fundamental architecture of the standard i3 – complete with a sprawling Panoramic iDrive screen running along the lower edge of the front windshield – but the rest of the interior feels ready for a racing circuit. Occupants sit in four separate, individual bucket seats wrapped in premium Merino leather. Each seat comes with a professional five-point safety harness. Designers installed a structural roll cage inside the rear cabin, wrapping it in premium, dark Nubuck leather that perfectly matches the materials on the steering wheel and the inner door panels.

Under that wide and bright bodywork sits the primary talking point: a quad-motor propulsion system labeled BMW M eDrive. The system adapts the sixth-generation Neue Klasse electronics specifically for the company’s highest-performing electric cars. Factory representatives declined to share official horsepower figures, but we can safely estimate the combined output will land anywhere between 710 and 1,014 metric horsepower (PS), equivalent to roughly 522 to 746 kW. The early developmental version of this tech tested in 2025 delivered an astonishing 13,269 lb-ft of wheel torque.

An electronic control system called the BMW M Dynamic Performance Control manages this massive wave of power. This software acts as part of a central processing system that engineers nicknamed the “Heart of Joy.” The technology allows the vehicle to distribute power and braking pressure to each wheel independently, which should theoretically deliver unprecedented agility and cornering precision.

A massive battery pack with a capacity exceeding 100 kWh feeds these four motors. The pack is made up of advanced cylindrical battery cells and runs on an 800V architecture to handle quick charging speeds and extended driving ranges. Interestingly, the battery housing bolts directly to the vehicle’s axles to increase structural rigidity.

Traditional BMW M buyers who are not yet ready to transition to fully electric cars can breathe a sigh of relief. The German manufacturer intends to execute a multi-energy platform strategy for the new M3. When the production version makes its official market debut sometime around 2027, it will not arrive as a one-trick pony. BMW plans to build and sell a gasoline-powered, mild-hybrid six-cylinder successor to the current M3 right alongside the new flagship EV.

Franciscus van Meel, the Chairman of the Board of Management for BMW M GmbH, emphasized that even in an era dominated by EVs, the company will continue its tradition of transferring motorsport innovations directly into street-legal production cars. This dual-track approach ensures that drivers can select their preferred power source while enjoying the updated styling and digital architecture of the next generation. Though buying a gas-powered M3 will feel unusual, knowing that it’s no longer the top of the range model, and the only option to go for the “real deal” will mean going electric.

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Well, first you find an appropriate brand that fits this gap and buy it, which BMW did in 2022 when it announced it had acquired the rights to Alpina, the aftermarket tuning house long associated with the Roundel. Then, you announce a strategy to take Alpina upmarket as an ultraluxury brand to compete with the likes of Mercedes-Maybach and high end Porsches.

And lastly, you give the automotive enthusiasts and the BMW faithful something to send them spinning, gasping, and drooling over until your first production BMW Alpina vehicle hits the market, in late 2027.

BMW used the 2026 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este for the trifecta, by unveiling the Vision BMW Alpina, a one-off design study previewing the future direction of the newly integrated BMW Alpina brand. As the first concept car since the acquisition, Vision BMW Alpina signals how BMW intends to preserve Alpina’s long-standing identity and credibility, while repositioning it within the BMW Group’s luxury hierarchy.

Classic GT Shape and Sound

At 204.7 inches long, the four-seat coupe carries familiar Alpina themes into a more restrained and contemporary form. The proportions are classic grand tourer: long hood, low roofline, wide stance, and a cabin designed to accommodate four adults in comfort. BMW says the concept is powered by a V-8 engine, with an exhaust tuned to deliver the subdued but distinctive character long associated with Alpina road cars. We also expect gobs of torque available on demand for effortless acceleration and high-speed cruising.

Shark Nose and Speed Line

The exterior design centers around what BMW calls the “speed feature line,” a character line that begins at the front fascia and runs the length of the body, rising by six degrees as it does, before wrapping around the rear. The front end itself revives Alpina’s historical shark nose treatment and forward-leaning stance, first seen prominently on cars like the Alpina B7 Coupe of the late 1970s. Here, BMW’s kidney grille becomes a three-dimensional sculptural element integrated into the nose rather than a separate graphic feature.

Many of the details are intentionally understated. Alpina’s deco-lines, the brand’s signature pinstripes, are now painted beneath the clear coat for a cleaner appearance. Dark metallic finishes appear on recessed surfaces, while hidden lighting elements and subtle graphics inside the grille reinforce what BMW designers describe as a “Second Read” philosophy—details intended to reveal themselves gradually rather than dominate at first glance.

Other traditional Alpina cues on the concept include elliptical quad exhaust outlets and familiar 20-spoke wheels measuring 22 inches in front and 23 inches in the rear.