The
spotlights of the Paris Motor Show – where Maserati
introduced the new GranCabrio MC – was also chosen as
the setting to announce the names of the three future
Trident products, two sedans and an SUV.
However in the case, at
least of the sedans, their appearance must be confirmed
and the Trident doesn't help its credibility by
continuing a long Fiat Group tradition of wild sales
targets, reaffirming in Paris its belief that it will
sell 50,000 units of Maserati per year by 2015.
The first of the previously announced new models is the
new Quattroporte,
the sports luxury sedan that will continue the 50-year
story begun in 1963, when Maserati introduced the
first-generation model. The outgoing model has been in
production for almost a decade now.
The new E segment four-door sedan will be named
Ghibli – a
name that draws directly from Maserati’s rich and
successful tradition and was most recently used for a
heavily updated version of the Biturbo in the mid-1990s.
Finally, the name of the sports luxury SUV that will
spring from the recent Jeep Grand Cherokee based Kubang
concept is 'Levante'
– as in Via Emilia Levante in Bologna, where the
Maserati brothers, almost a century ago, dreamt of the
company that today still bears their name. "Considering
that Levante
will be marketed in 2014, the year Maserati will
celebrate its Centennial, it seems a proper name and, in
many ways, a bridge to Maserati’s future," Maserati said
in a statement last week. Like the Kubang, the Levante
will be based around a reworked Grand Cherokee and will
come down the same production line.
Maserati arrived in
Paris after a year in which it has steadied its
financial picture. In the first half of 2012, network
sales comprised 3,322 units, with an increase of 3.4%
compared to the first half of 2011.
Maserati made profits
of 324 million euros, with an increase of approximately
7%, compared to the 303 million recorded in the same
period in 2011. In the first half of 2012, operating
profits reached 23 million euros, an improvement on the
same period last year, when operating profits were 18
million euros.
In the second quarter
of 2012, Maserati delivered 1,762 cars to the network
(+1% approx. compared to the second quarter of 2011).
The increases recorded in the USA (+23%), China (+20%)
and the Middle East (+83%) were significant, while there
has been a reduction of 40% in Europe. Profits for the
quarter totalled 171 million euros, growth of
approximately 2% compared to the same period in 2011.
The second quarter of
2012 closed with operating profits and EBIT of 11
million euros, with an increase of 2 million euros
compared to the second quarter of 2011.
