« Strong third trimester for Suzuki | Home Page | BMW to overtake Mercedes in India by 2009 »
Maserati might build a 911 competitor
By Yoann Besnard on 1 February 2008 | (0) Comments | Permalink
According to insiders, Maserati executives are seriously considering to develop a small coupé set to compete with the Porsche 911.
This doesn’t come as a surprise as the company planned to expand its lineup. Some observers suggested that Maserati would join the SUV fight but his CEO Roberto Ronchi ruled it out in an interview with Reuters because the segment growth is suffering from record-high gas prices and is over crowded. “An SUV model has been ruled out because the segment is declining and is already too crowded,” said Roberto Ronchi.
Instead of a SUV, Maserati plans to make a sports car. Maserati CEO said that “We [Maserati] want to target Porsche with a sports car priced around €80,000 to €90,000,”. A decision will be taken in the first quarter of this year. If given the green light, the small Maserati would be launched 18 to 36 months later. At this early stage, details remain scarce but some observers believe that the small coupé would feature a detuned Maserati 4.2-litre V8 engine limited to 350bhp.
