Just the Facts:
- Small Maserati sedan will debut next fall.
- Maserati expects it to compete with the BMW M5, the Jaguar XFR and the Mercedes E-Class AMG.
- Maserati has not yet determined where the new model line will be built.
LONDON — Maserati's baby four-door sedan will debut in the fall of 2011, pitched as a competitor to the BMW M5, the Jaguar XFR and the Mercedes E-Class AMG.
The car will be designed in-house by Fiat Centro Stile under the leadership of Fiat chief Lorenzo Ramaciotti, although Maserati insiders say that this does not signal the end of Maserati's relationship with the Pininfarina design house, which styled the Quattroporte.
Maserati is still determining where it will build this third model line — there's not enough capacity at the company's Modena factory — but coachbuilder Bertone's Turin factory is a front-runner.
Inside Line says: Baby Quattroporte comes out of the rumor mill and approaches reality. — Richard Bremner, Correspondent
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dansmith says:
11:34 AM, 10/16/2010
Here in America, Maserati has remarkable cachet. But because the cars are so incredibly pricy, you rarely ever see them around. This new model will make the brand far more approachable, and the famous Trident badge should become highly visible on our roadways.
Here, where I live in Durham North Carolina, BMW has a massive assembly plant only a few hundred miles away in Spartanburg, South Carolina. And BMW 3-series cars are almost as commonplace as Chevy Malibus. And I certainly don't expect to see that happen with the new Maser.
But there are more than a few luxury outlets nearby that will likely represent the newly revitalized brand.
With the stunning combination of exquisite styling, strong performance and luxurious interior appointments, the brand seems destined for success in this market. It's time. Humble Pie has never been one of my favorites. And now it's time for a little Italian.
adb4 says:
09:38 AM, 10/05/2010
Seriously? We are allegedly twelve months away from launch, yet they haven't decided where to build it (you can't just snap your fingers and drop a car into any old plant, unless you're Honda), and there hasn't been a single spyphoto (and the Italians aren't nearly as good as the Japanese at keeping their vehicles hidden). While I'd love to drool over something like this in a year's time, I think the writers have been nipping at the vino rosso; I call BS...