Black Coffee’s R9m Dream Maserati Ends in Court
JOHANNESBURG – Grammy-winning South African DJ Black Coffee has won a R7 million High Court judgment against Maserati South Africa following a dispute over a heavily customised supercar that he ordered but ultimately never received.
The Johannesburg High Court ordered Maserati to pay R7 million to Soulistic Music, the company owned by Black Coffee, whose real name is Nkosinathi Maphumulo. Maserati must also pay interest of 10.5% annually from 22 August 2025 until the amount is settled, together with the legal costs of the proceedings.
The judgment, reportedly granted by acting judge Sanet van Aswegen, brings a significant victory for Black Coffee in a dispute that began with his decision to replace a Maserati MC20 Coupe purchased in 2022.
At the centre of the case was a new Maserati MC20 Cielo valued at approximately R9 million. Black Coffee’s existing MC20 was to be traded in for R7 million, leaving him with another R2 million to pay when the replacement vehicle was delivered.
According to his company’s case, the agreement was concluded partly in writing and partly through verbal discussions, with the customised Cielo expected to arrive by July 2025. But in June, Black Coffee was allegedly informed that the vehicle would only enter production in August, without a definite delivery date being provided.
He cancelled the transaction and demanded the return of the R7 million trade-in value, setting the stage for the dispute that eventually reached the Johannesburg High Court.
This was not an ordinary vehicle sitting on a dealership floor. Black Coffee had reportedly selected 18 customised specifications, including a Blu Infinito exterior, glossy black diamond-cut wheels, leather and Alcantara interior finishes and a premium 12-speaker Sonus Faber sound system. Custom stitching and specific colours for the seat belts, interior finishes and brake callipers were also included.
Those choices became important to Maserati’s defence.
Maserati South Africa disputed that it had undertaken to deliver the MC20 Cielo by July 2025 and argued that additional specifications selected by Black Coffee still required confirmation and approval from Maserati’s head office before production could begin.
The company reportedly maintained that a customised MC20 Cielo requires at least nine months to manufacture once specifications are finalised. It therefore denied breaching the agreement.
Maserati also disputed the consequences of cancelling the transaction, arguing that the R7 million valuation attached to Black Coffee’s existing MC20 Coupe formed part of the broader deal to purchase the replacement vehicle. Without completion of that purchase, it argued, the existing car would not necessarily have attracted the same R7 million value.
The High Court nevertheless granted summary judgment in favour of Soulistic Music, ordering Maserati to repay R7 million with interest.
The reported court order did not provide detailed reasons for granting summary judgment, making it important not to interpret the outcome as a finding that Maserati committed fraud or deliberately misled Black Coffee. Maserati’s position regarding any possible further legal action was not immediately available in the information provided.
The case nevertheless leaves the luxury manufacturer facing an increasingly expensive bill. At 10.5% annual interest, the R7 million judgment accumulates roughly R735,000 in interest over a full year if unpaid, before legal costs are considered.
For Black Coffee, whose international career has taken him from South Africa to some of the world’s biggest stages and earned him a Grammy for Subconsciously in 2022, an attempt to upgrade one supercar for another ended somewhere considerably less glamorous than a Maserati showroom.
The R9 million customised MC20 Cielo never arrived, but the fight over the R7 million attached to the deal certainly did, and this time Black Coffee has walked away with the court order.
Anyone with additional information or court documentation relating to the dispute between Soulistic Music, Black Coffee and Maserati South Africa can contact TownPress confidentially at press@townpress.co.za.