Maserati's sales in the first quarter will be around 30 percent down year-on-year as the Modenese carmaker suffers from the shrinking global demand for luxury cars; however it expects to see its sales over the full year pulling back to mirror the strong 2008 performance. The news comes from Simone Niccolai, managing director of Maserati Asia Pacific, who told Reuters about the dip in sales this year during an interview in Singapore.

Niccolai believes though that the Trident's latest models, which in include the facelifted Quattroporte sedan and the automatic transmission version of the GranTurismo S, will be key to Maserati keeping its cars shifting out of the showrooms. "It will help sustain sales even in this very bad period,"  he told Reuters, adding that he hopes to see continued growing in the region through doing more targeted events and test drives for potential clients. "If you want to understand the Maserati, you need to drive it," he said. Last year the Asia Pacific region accounted for 18 percent of the brands sales and includes growth markets such as China and Japan.

The facelifted Quattroporte arrived in the showrooms last autumn, launched at what Niccolai told Reuters was the "very worst time" as the global financial crisis swung into top gear and Maserati's sales were also impacted in China due to a tax increase for larger cars. The new Quattroporte range has been widened this year by a specific GT S version (with an extra 10 bhp along with a number of technical and cosmetic detail improvements). Niccolai's comments came on the sidelines of an event to launch the new versions in Singapore.

Last year Maserati sales hit 8,600 cars, a record for the company and 17 percent up on the previous year. Revenue was 596 million euros, up 22.9 percent year-on-year. Niccolai added that he sees resiliance in the key Asian markets and he expects to see Chinese sales climbing this year while the company's market share in Japan has been growing despite the slowdown.