Sport Luxury Vehicle Destined To Be First Maserati Built in North America
Maserati is proud to bring the Kubang sport luxury SUV concept to the 2012 North American International Auto Show. The Kubang concept demonstrates the strength of the modern Maserati, capable of offering an Italian alternative to the most competitive segments of the market. Like many of its competitors the future sport luxury SUV will be built in North America and it represents an important part of the future Maserati range.
The Kubang concept creates discontinuity by entering a new segment and continuity by maintaining the integrity of Maserati’s DNA. It represents a natural direction for Maserati to enlarge its product range and strengthen its presence in markets across the world.
The elements which make up a sport luxury SUV are a good fit for Maserati’s capabilities – and synergies within the Fiat-Chrysler industrial group offer the ideal catalyst for Maserati’s own interpretation of a sport luxury SUV.
While the project starts with solid fundamentals and capability, the model eventually produced will unquestionably be a Maserati. All major system components will be 100% Maserati in picture-perfect continuity with the brand’s core values of sportiness, elegance, glamour, luxury, performance and craftsmanship.
The essence and characteristic Maserati style that makes the Kubang concept immediately recognizable as a true Maserati has been created by the Maserati Style Center headed by Lorenzo Ramaciotti.
A new generation of Maserati high-tech proprietary engines are being designed in Modena, Italy at Maserati Headquarters by Paolo Martinelli, Head of the Maserati Powertrain Development. Before undertaking this role, Martinelli spent nearly thirty years with Ferrari, eventually as the Head of the Engine Department for the Formula 1 team across the era of Michael Schumacher’s world championships. Production of the new Maserati engines will be performed by Ferrari in Maranello, Italy and they will be mated to a new 8-speed automatic transmission.
Componentry with specific performance settings such as suspension, brakes, steering and electronics will be exclusively developed by Maserati engineers in Modena, Italy.
Maserati is a founder of the modern granturismo. Nearly 50 years ago, Maserati expanded the boundaries of the original GT concept from two to four doors. The resulting Quattroporte is considered by many to be the first modern super sedan. It maintained not only the brands core values of style and luxury, but also delivered genuine performance thanks to components and design built from knowledge gained in competition.
Today times have once again changed: sportiness and luxury can take the form of a very dynamic looking, incredibly elegant and high performing sport luxury vehicle with the capability of getting its passengers through all types of climates over a variety of surfaces on and off the road. Maserati is ideally suited to build just such a vehicle.