Focusing on increasing sales of the brand from 5,675 last year to 50,00 units a year by the end of the decade, Chrysler Group LLC and Fiat SpA CEO Sergio Marchionne has a lot of new plans and ambition for the future of Maserati brand.
For the start these plans include an SUV, a concept version of which will debut at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show. The Maserati SUV will be build on the Jeep Grand Cherokee platform and will probably be fitted with Chrysler Pentastar V6 as one of the engine options, but we’ll see that next month in Frankfurt.
These plans are quite daring for a luxury company, aren’t they? Well that’s not all because Maserati will reportedly borrow a bunch of systems and components from the Chrysler 300 and the Dodge Avenger in order to create two new sedans that will replace the company’s Quattroporte flagship sedan. The Quattroporte model is known to be too big to be a driver’s car and too small to be a proper chauffeur’s car, so here comes the new sedans which will solve those problems.
One of these sedans, a “baby-Quattroporte”, will come at the end of 2012 and it will be smaller than the Quattroporte. The new model will keep Maserati’s traditional layout of front longitudinal engine and rear-wheel-drive. The sedan will get a revised 3.0 liter version of Chrysler’s 3.6 liter Pentastar V6 and the engine will get Fiat’s MultiAir variable valve timing, twin turbochargers and direct injection – helping it pump out more than 400-hp. Probably prices will start somewhere around $79,000 and will go up to $101,000, but we’ll find out at the right time.
According to egmCarTech, the Italian brand will unveil a large and true replacement for the model in mid-2013. This larger sedan will be 2.5 inches longer than the current Quattroporte and 8.7 inches longer than the “baby-Quattroporte” and it will be powered by a revised version of Ferrari’s 4.7 liter V8 making around 475-hp. In addition, the V8 will be connected to a ZF 8-speed transmission.
Source: egmCarTech
