The Ghibli will be rear-wheel drive like the big Quattroporte sedan, but it will be smaller and sportier, aimed at competing with sport sedans like the Audi A6, BMW 5 Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class. Perhaps most surprising is that Maserati’s new car will be available with a 3-liter turbodiesel V-6 – the first-ever diesel from the luxury performance marque. The VM Motori-sourced engine is the same one used in the Lancia Thema and Jeep’s Eurozone spec Grand Cherokee.
With its entry price most likely starting at about $91,000, the Ghibli – the third Maserati to carry that name over the years – will also be available with a 410-horsepower 3-liter gasoline V-6 and optional all-wheel drive. Both the gas and diesel engine options will transmit power through an 8-speed automatic transmission.
Fiat Group’s chief executive, Sergio Marchionne said nearly two years ago that his goal for Maserati was to sell 50,000 cars a year. Maserati said in a news release Monday that the Ghibli figures into its master plan to achieve that number by 2015. Last year, Maserati sold 6,288 cars.
That’s a wide gap for the Italian-American automaker to jump with the addition of a single new model, but Ghibli comes from the Arabic word for scirocco – the hot wind that gusts north across the Mediterranean from the Sahara Desert every summer. So if it sells like the wind, Mr. Marchionne will undoubtedly be quite pleased.
The Ghibli has changed drastically since the name first appeared in 1966. Back then, it wasn’t anything like the modern day diesel-powered sport sedan gladiator Maserati wants it to be. It was a low slung, Ghia-bodied GT car powered by a twin-cam 4.7-liter V-8 with eight thirsty barrels of Weber carburetion.
The Ghibli goes on sale in Europe sometime this summer. Expect to see it in North American dealerships sometime after that.
via ~ tnyt
Comments