A manual Maserati supercar is coming, with Alfa Romeo's help
Maserati hasn't lost the plot, and a three-pedal GT might just prove it
Maserati has had a hard few years. Sales have fallen, the brand's identity has felt stretched thin, and its attempts to pivot toward electrification have been fitful at best. But Cristiano Fiorio, who runs the brand's exclusive Bottegafuoriserie bespoke division, believes the road back to relevance does not run through software updates or battery packs. It runs through a gearlever and a clutch pedal.
A new limited-production GT is in development at Bottegafuoriserie, in partnership with Alfa Romeo. It will use the Nettuno V6 engine and come with a manual gearbox. In 2026, that is a genuine statement of intent.
Bottegafuoriserie, explained
Bottegafuoriserie is Maserati's low-volume bespoke arm, similar in ambition to Ferrari Tailor Made or Lamborghini Ad Personam, but taken further into product territory. Rather than customising existing cars, it creates new limited-run models for customers who want something that mainstream production cannot offer. This manual GT is not a one-off commission or a concept: it is a small-series model with a specific brief, to remind the right kind of buyer that Maserati still builds cars worth caring about.
The Nettuno V6 and the case for three pedals
The Nettuno V6 is among the finest engines Maserati has produced in recent years. A twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre with pre-chamber combustion technology borrowed from Formula 1, it produces 630 horsepower in the MC20 and sounds exactly as a modern Italian sports car should. Pairing it with a manual gearbox, rather than the MC20's dual-clutch, is a considered choice. Davide Danesin confirmed the manual suits the mechanical, traditional character this car is designed to embody. It will slow the experience down in the best way.
What the Alfa Romeo partnership means
The collaboration with Alfa Romeo is the detail that is easy to overlook but probably should not be. The two brands share Stellantis parentage and have a long history of shared platforms and engineering know-how. At minimum, the partnership signals that this project has serious institutional backing rather than being a side project. For Maserati, which has sometimes struggled to bring small-volume concepts to market without delays, having Alfa Romeo's engineering weight behind it could be what keeps this one on time and on spec.
AutoNext Take
A front-engined, manual-gearbox, V6 Maserati GT from a bespoke division reads like a wish list from a different era. But there is something real and deliberate here. Maserati understands that its customers are not buying capability on paper, they are buying feeling, and a manual Nettuno GT sends a clear signal that the brand still knows what made it desirable in the first place.
The volumes will be tiny and the price will be steep. That is fine. Not everything needs to be a volume play. If this car arrives, drives well, and carries the Maserati name with genuine conviction, it becomes the thing the brand has been short of lately: a proper argument for its own existence.
