Maserati has hinted at future product plans that include a 500bhp+ V8 engined Maserati Levante and an electric car by 2020. There’s no desire, however, to extend the brand’s SUV offering with a smaller Porsche Macan rival or a sleeker coupe SUV model.
Italy may be reeling with the imminent resignation of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi following the populist victory in a referendum in the country. But you’d have been hard-pushed to tell from the buoyant mood as Maserati marked its 102nd birthday with a celebratory dinner at its Modena headquarters.
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Having just launched the Levante, a significant piece of the puzzle is now in place in the brand’s quest to hit a sales target of 75,000 annually, possibly by 2018. Maserati sales are up globally by 21 per cent year to date (and on target for around 40,000), CEO Reid Bigland told Auto Express, while November figures were up 65 per year on year thanks to the SUV. That’s a useful turnaround for a company that a few short years ago sold only 6,000 cars and had barely 60 engineering staff.
Amid this backdrop, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Maserati might be tempted to go down the Porsche route and add a second SUV to its range. But Maserati has a very clear vision of what it will and won’t do in a bid to protect its DNA. Giulio Pastore, general manager of Maserati Europe, was unequivocal when he said: “For us, it’s Levante then stop.” So any thoughts of a smaller Macan rival can be nipped in the bud. “That size is maybe a better fit for Alfa,” one exec revealed.
A Levante coupe-SUV? “No!”, said Alberto Cavvagioni marketing boss, emphatically. “Our company does not like coupe-SUVs. The Levante is already a GT SUV, anyway.”
Pastore also ruled out a more basic model than the 271bhp diesel, although he gave a glimmer of hope for a more powerful Levante when he said: “That is something we could potentially study. It would have to be justified. But we have the Quattroporte (523bhp V8) engine.”
Electrification will be embraced, but not imminently, and probably not in the Levante. “Around 2020 we will have an electric car in the range,” said Pastore. All options, including plug-in hybrid and 48-volt hybrid are being considered, but an all-electric production version of the stunning Alfieri sports car concept seen at Geneva in 2014 is the likely front runner to debut electrification in a Maserati.
Next up in the product plan are replacements for the GranTurismo and GranCabrio, although it’s the first full year of Levante sales that will push volumes up to new levels next year.
And while there’s a degree of uncertainty about how the political situation will play out – “We will have to wait and see how it affects our business,” said Pastore – the optimism is tangible for a brand that now has a much clearer idea of its role and future in the Fiat Chrysler group.
Concluded Bigland: “It’s been a great year for Maserati but I’m confident 2017 will be even better.” While much of Italy is fretting about what lies ahead, in Modena at least the future looks brighter than it has for some time.
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