At the sidelines of the new GranTurismo, GranCabrio and Grecale SUV reveals, senior Maserati executives sat down with media and spoke with a frankness that you rarely hear from a brand operating within a large automotive group. Far from a company under financial pressure, what came through was a team with genuine ambition and a clear sense of what they want Maserati to become.
The Quattroporte and a New E-Segment SUV Are Coming
The lineup expansion goes well beyond what’s currently on sale. Maserati’s marketing head Christiano Fiori confirmed that the Quattroporte name will return, and that a new E-segment SUV to fill the void left by the Levante is also firmly on the agenda.
The outgoing Quattroporte earned considerable affection over six generations, even if its sales volumes never quite matched that loyalty. Fiori acknowledged it will need to evolve to justify its return. “A modern interpretation of a sedan can change,” he said. “There will be space for a sedan that is more capable, still aggressive. Quattroporte is definitely looking for something new. There’s space between SUVs and sedans to be made.”
COO Santo Ficili, who also heads Alfa Romeo, was equally direct: “We are not today present in the E-segment, where the Quattroporte used to be. We are developing new models and we cannot forget the E-SUV that used to be the Levante. For sure there is a hole that we need to fill again.”
Bottegafuoriserie: Where a Manual Maserati Could Become Reality
Bottegafuoriserie is the shared special projects and personalisation arm of both Maserati and Alfa Romeo. It’s the team behind the MC20-based Alfa Romeo 33, and it handles bespoke customer commissions with a take-up rate of around one in four, which is steadily growing.
What’s particularly striking is what Maserati’s customers are asking for through this channel: a manual gearbox and a petrol engine. And the brand isn’t dismissing the idea.
“Maybe 50 per cent of our customers do demand a manual gearbox, and a petrol engine,” Fiori said. “I believe we will have to have a manual gearbox in our Bottega product. The day we will be able to present a new Bottega programme for Maserati, I hope will be soon.”
The Nettuno Gets Hybrid Treatment, But Not a Plug-In
The conversation around electrification was measured and pragmatic. The group, which included Fiori, Ficili and head of engineering Davide Danesin, all agreed that hybridisation of the Nettuno V6 is coming, but the plug-in route holds little appeal.
The Nettuno currently powers everything from the Grecale SUV to the MCPura supercar in naturally aspirated configuration, and the engineering team sees meaningful performance and efficiency gains available through electrification, without going the plug-in route.
“We see a hybrid future for the Nettuno,” Danesin said. “There’s more performance and additional customer value to be had. We are not pursuing plug-in, but 48-volt and ‘full’ hybrid solutions. Folgore is our plug-in solution.”
Fiori elaborated: “Plug-in cars are heavy, with big batteries. A discussion around them is that customers don’t actually charge their plug-in hybrids, and this is not a desirable solution. Hybrid has a benefit for efficiency, but we prefer mild- or high-voltage, potentially with smaller batteries.”
A V8 Maserati Remains on the Table
When the subject of a V8 came up, the response was nuanced rather than dismissive. The team clearly believes the Nettuno V6 stands among the finest engines in its class, but they’re not closing the door on eight cylinders either.
“Today we have one of the best, if not the best V6 in the world, our Nettuno,” Fiori said. “The team is working to develop this engine, to go into a hybrid environment. We are not forgetting the possibility of the V8. It’s a point we are considering. We have the knowledge, the capability, to consider a V8. There are some people in the world that believe this is an engine Maserati should have. We stay close with our customers and we always get asked about the sound.”
It’s a tantalising hint, and one that suggests Maserati’s next chapter could be its most interesting in years.