26 January 2024
The new Quattroporte will be the Italian firm’s sole saloon in a streamlined line-up
Porsche Taycan rival, originally billed for 2025, on hold as firm refines powertrain and pushes for reduced costs
Maserati has delayed the launch of the next-generation Quattroporte to 2028, three years after it was initially planned to hit showrooms.
The seventh-generation saloon, which will be built at parent company Stellantis’s Mirafiori plant in Turin, Italy, is due to be a smaller, more luxurious, battery-powered replacement for both the current V8 Maserati Quattroporte and its smaller Maserati Ghibli sibling.
It was due to be launched in early 2025, but Maserati confirmed it has put production plans “on hold”, rubber-stamping a new release year of 2028.
Maserati decided to delay the EV because of “the need to take zero risks on the performance level of the new car”, a spokesperson told Automotive News Europe, hinting at the need for further development work before it’s signed off.
It’s understood supplier pricing negotiations are one of the reasons for the setback. Reports suggest Stellantis wants to reduce costs by some 6%.
This is the latest knock to the Italian marque’s electrification programme. It previously shifted back build schedules for the Folgore electric versions of its Maserati Granturismo and Maserati Grecale.
By 2030, Maserati aims to have an electric-only line-up, but has no new series-production combustion models left to launch before then.
Before the Quattroporte arrives, the Italian brand will launch the Maserati MC20 Folgore next year and the Maserati Levante Folgore in 2027. The Maserati Grancabrio Folgore will arrive in the coming months.
Maserati Quattroporte Folgore full details
The next-generation Maserati Quattroporte Folgore will be the brand’s third electric car.
It will be its first model to be offered without a combustion option, and will play a key role in shaping the brand’s future as it pushes to ditch combustion power by 2030.
CEO Davide Grasso said Maserati’s hotly anticipated Porsche Taycan rival is “unmistakably a Maserati” but also “such a disruptive design project”, suggesting it will take inspiration from the latest Granturismo and Grecale but adopt a radical new look defined by its electric underpinnings – likely to be chiefly influenced by a focus on aerodynamic efficiency.
Grasso stopped short of naming any key rivals but he suggested the new EV saloon can stand out on the basis of its overt luxury appeal and “Italian flair”, which will be crucial in cementing the firm’s credentials as a bona fide luxury brand and helping it to maintain the healthy profit margins it achieved in 2022.
The new saloon will be more towards the Quattroporte end of the spectrum than the Ghibli and come with a lofty price to match, as Maserati moves away from targeting volume sales in the mainstream executive segment.
“We’re making the choice of not doing that,” Grasso told Autocar. “As a luxury brand, you want to choose what not to do, and then you choose what to do. This is not where I’m going to play. We are not for everybody. We are for those that are willing to pay a premium to have a unique performance and luxury experience.”
Grasso pointed to the Grecale as a good example of how to translate Maserati’s luxury credentials into a more accessible, volume-friendly package. He highlighted its driver-focused cockpit, rear leg room and attention to detail as differentiators from rivals.
“We have freed ourselves up from thinking about volume,” said Grasso. “Volume is a consequence of what we do. The driver is profitability, because without profitability and quality, luxury doesn’t exist.”
All clues point to the Quattroporte EV being a sibling to Alfa Romeo’s upcoming electric Giulia, expected to be based on the recently revealed STLA Large platform and potentially sharing its promised 1000bhp range-topping powertrain in a fearsome Trofeo variant.
This platform can accommodate batteries large enough for 500 miles of range, as well as high-performance motors with the potential to make it Maserati’s quickest car yet.
The new Quattroporte’s positioning also indicates a target price of about £150,000, especially given that it will be sold in electric form only (the Granturismo Folgore will cost around £200,000).