Blog / History
By the Exotic & Classic Specialists team · · 5 min read
Maserati's engine story runs from the 1981 Biturbo, the first production twin-turbo car, through two decades of Ferrari-built power in the Quattroporte, GranTurismo and MC12, to the Nettuno, a 3.0-litre V6 developed and built in Modena. The Nettuno is the first engine Maserati says it developed exclusively in-house in 20 years. For owners, the era of your car decides who built the engine and which specialist knowledge applies.
For most of its road-car history Maserati built its own engines. The first Quattroporte in 1963 used an all-aluminium Maserati V8 of 4.1 litres, rated at 260 PS in DIN terms. A 4.7-litre version followed in 1968 with 290 PS. That car was sold until 1969 with either a five-speed ZF manual or a three-speed Borg Warner automatic.
The next big shift came in December 1981 with the Biturbo, a two-door 2+2 coupe with a 2.0-litre (1,996 cc) twin-turbocharged 90 degree V6. Wikipedia describes it as the first production car to use a twin-turbocharged engine. Base output was 180 PS, and the range went up to 205 PS. It sold roughly 40,000 units at first, and the family stayed in production until 1994.
The Biturbo also left a mark on the brand. It developed a reputation for poor quality and reliability, and early racing versions suffered overheating until fuel injection replaced carburettors. If you're looking at a Biturbo-era car today, that history is why condition and documented work matter more than the badge.
The turn came in the early 2000s, when Maserati's engines came out of the Ferrari-Maserati F136 family. The first large application was the fifth-generation Quattroporte, built from 2003 to 2012. It launched with a 4.2-litre V8 rated at 400 PS at 7,000 rpm, paired with a Graziano six-speed DuoSelect automated manual. A ZF six-speed torque-converter automatic arrived in 2007.
In 2008 the Quattroporte S moved to the 4.7-litre version of the V8, rated at 430 PS. The Sport GT S, built from 2009 to 2012, went to 440 PS. Displacements are quoted as 4.2 and 4.7 litres, with exact figures of 4,244 cc and 4,691 cc.
The same engine family went into the GranTurismo (2007 to 2019) and GranCabrio. The 4.2 made 405 PS, the 4.7 in the GranTurismo S made 440 PS, and later Sport, MC and MC Stradale cars reached 460 PS. The 4.7 also powered the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione. These engines rev to 7,200 to 7,500 rpm depending on the model, which is a big part of why they sound the way they do.
The deal had a flagship moment too. The MC12 used a slightly modified version of the Ferrari F140 V12 from the Enzo, displacing 5,998 cc and making 630 PS at 7,500 rpm. Maserati built 50 road cars across 2004 and 2005, and 62 in total once the racing cars are counted. The MC12 GT1 debuted at Imola in 2004 and won multiple FIA GT titles.
The engine is only half the ownership story on a Ferrari-era Maserati. The Graziano MC-Shift is a six-speed automated manual with a twin dry-plate clutch and paddles. It was fitted to the GranTurismo S from 2008 to 2019. On the MC Stradale, the MC Race Shift is quoted as changing gear in 60 milliseconds.
The ZF 6HP26 torque-converter automatic is the other choice, and it was also fitted to the Quattroporte from 2007. For a buyer, the question isn't which is better in the abstract. It's which clutch and software history a specific car has. An inspection on any of these should cover clutch wear data, gearbox software level and any service records for the transmission.
The sixth-generation Quattroporte, built from late 2012 through 2023, moved to turbocharging. Wikipedia lists a 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 (the F160) at 410 PS and a 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 (the F154) at 530 PS, both described as designed and assembled by Ferrari. A VM Motori 3.0-litre turbodiesel V6 was also offered, and every variant used a ZF eight-speed automatic.
That means the brand's headline engines stayed Ferrari products for another decade. It also means the naturally aspirated, high-revving character of the F136 gave way to smaller, boosted engines, which is the same path most of the industry took.
The Nettuno is the engine that changed the answer to who builds a Maserati. It is a 3.0-litre (2,992 cc) twin-turbo 90 degree V6 with an 88 mm bore and 82 mm stroke, a compression ratio of 11:1 and dry sump lubrication on the MC20. Maserati's own statement, quoted by CarExpert, was that it would be the first engine developed exclusively by the brand in 20 years, built in Modena.
The headline technology is pre-chamber combustion, with technology Maserati says is derived from Formula 1. A small chamber around a spark plug ignites a jet of mixture that lights the main chamber, which allows lean mixtures and high compression. A second plug in the main chamber fires at part load, which Wikipedia calls the first application of that approach on a mass-produced engine. At low load, one bank can also be shut down so only three cylinders run.
Wikipedia also says the Nettuno is a deep evolution of the Alfa Romeo 690T engine, which itself was partly derived from the Ferrari F154 V8. Treat that lineage as a published claim rather than a Maserati statement, since the maker's own wording stresses in-house development. What's clear is the 82 mm stroke is shared.
In the MC20 the Nettuno makes 630 PS (621 hp) at 7,500 rpm and 730 N·m from 3,000 rpm. The MC20 GT2 Stradale is listed at 640 PS. The Grecale Trofeo gets 530 PS and a wet sump, and the second-generation GranTurismo uses the same engine in two tunes: 490 PS in the Modena and 550 PS in the Trofeo, with an eight-speed ZF automatic.
For the 2027 model year facelift, the Modena's output is unchanged and the Trofeo rises to 592 PS. Maserati also sells the GranTurismo Folgore, with three electric motors, 761 PS and a 92.5 kWh battery, so the V6 now sits alongside an electric option in the same body.
The takeaway for owners is simple. Pre-2020 cars have Ferrari-lineage engines with a long record, a known spares chain and independent specialists who've worked on them for years. Nettuno cars are newer, more complex and still building their service history, so ask any shop how many have passed through their bays.
No. The 1963 Quattroporte used a Maserati-built aluminium V8. The 2003 to 2019 cars used the Ferrari-Maserati F136 V8 family, and the Quattroporte VI's 3.8-litre V8 was designed and assembled by Ferrari.
Wikipedia calls it the first production car to use a twin-turbocharged engine. It launched in December 1981 with a 2.0-litre V6.
No. Maserati says it was developed exclusively by the brand and is built in Modena. Wikipedia says it is a deep evolution of the Alfa Romeo 690T, which was partly derived from a Ferrari V8.
Fifty road cars were built across 2004 and 2005, and 62 including the racing cars.
The Modena makes 490 PS and the Trofeo 550 PS, rising to 592 PS for the 2027 model year. The electric Folgore makes 761 PS.
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