Maserati Ghibli
has been sprung online ahead of a planned Shanghai show unveiling and suddenly makes those granny pants German saloons look worryingly generic and unsexy. Because, let's face it, who wants a 5 Series, an A6 or an E-Class when you could have one of these instead?
Based on Quattroporte but smaller and sportier
Only Jaguar's XF stands a chance of matching the Ghibli in the slinkiness stakes, the cut-down Quattroporte looks reflecting the mechanical underpinnings beneath but successfully bringing a new sense of glamour to generally conservative market sector. If you need to swot up on why Maserati matters check out
this timeline here
from an earlier Time For Tea? story.
Autocar is reporting that the Ghibli will be powered by V6 diesel and petrol motors, the latter in two states of tune with the higher of the two pushing out over 400hp. Which it'll need to go head to head with the facelifted, twin-turbo V6 Panamera, which will deliver 420hp and 383lb ft in higher spec S tune.
As has already been widely reported, Maserati has confirmed ambitious targets of selling over 50,000 cars a year by 2015. Unveiling the car in China reveals where it expects the bulk of that extra volume to come from, the launch earlier in the year of the new Quattroporte on which the Ghibli will be based setting "the high-technology tone for Maserati's upcoming range of new-models" according to Maserati.
Lashings of standard leather for the cabin
That includes the all-new engine family, which in the Quattroporte will include a 530hp 3.8-litre V8 and the 3.0-litre V6 that will form the heart of the Ghibli range. Maserati claims the twin-turbo, direct injection family as its own, the fact the motors will be built by Ferrari just adding to the cachet the brand hopes to use to further its claim to markets where luxury brands rule supreme. Expect the all-conquering ZF eight-speed auto to put the power down through a choice of Q4 four-wheel or regular rear-wheel drive drivetrains.
Prices are to be confirmed but reckoned to kick off below £50,000. Still want that 5 Series?
[Sources: the entire internet, via Autocar]