Maserati to Build Crossover SUV cum Sport Wagon

New Relationship with Alfa Romeo to Broaden Maserati's Model Range

The air in Modena, Italy must be electric with the recent happenings of Ferrari and Maserati. It all started with the surprise purchase of Maserati by Fiat, from its previous owner Ferrari earlier this year. Next, several new products from Ferrari - namely the semi-racing FXX, the new F430 Spyder, and the upcoming 575M replacement and a 'budget' front-engined entry level Ferrari, not to mention the latest happenings of the prancing horse's Formula One team, have kept fans of the legendary brand on the edges of their collective seats. But the latest and perhaps most shocking news to hail from Italy's sports car hot spot is that Fiat Group is rumoured to be working on a Maserati crossover station wagon to boost the brand's ailing sales.

In the nine years that Ferrari has owned Maserati, they literally built the brand up from nothing. New factories, chassis architectures, body shells, engines, interiors, and a whole host of additional technologies were made from scratch for Maserati, or adapted from Ferrari components. While Ferrari did a commendable job of restoring the Trident brand, building a premium carmaker up from ruins, convincing a sophisticated clientele that they should invest was a daunting and only partially successful task.

The constant issue which Ferrari had with Maserati is component sharing. While sharing parts is usually a good thing, as demonstrated by Ford's Premium Auto Group, Volkswagen Auto Group, and more recently the new-wave of Mercedes-Benz/Chrysler Group shared platforms, Ferrari felt that cross pollinating with Maserati would yield two major negatives: unnecessarily inflated prices for Maseratis and the devaluing of the Ferrari brand name.

What to do? Fiat chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, who previously ran Ferrari, summed it up in one sentence: "Maserati and Alfa Romeo will share platforms, and sales networks."

First off, let's start with the car. Aside from it being a crossover station wagon, and that the technology used in the platform and suspensions will be shared with Alfa Romeo, Fiat has been tight lipped about the details. Insiders, have a bit more to say, mind you, and from what has been gathered the car will be based on the Alfa Romeo's Premium Platform, which is said to underpin the upcoming 5-Series sized 169, a stretched spin-off of the newly introduced 3-Series-sized 159 and beautiful Brera coupe. The platform of which the forthcoming Maserati wagon will ride on features double wishbones up front and a complex multi-link layout in rear, but will be tuned to reflect Maserati's fluid yet sporting ride characteristics.

One major plus to working with Alfa's Premium Platform, as opposed to working with a chassis architecture derived from a Ferrari product, or creating a platform from scratch is its flexibility. While the sport wagon won't be capable of accepting a rear wheel drive layout, or a rear-mounted transmission like the rest of Maserati's current lineup, the final product will still impress. Expect to see the entry-level Maserati crossover equipped with a 250-horsepower 3.2-litre V6, sourced from the Fiat-GM relationship - at least in Europe. A twin-turbocharged variant, such as the engine used in the new Saab 9-3 Aero, would also be an easy fit. Tuned for a unique engine sound and power delivery characteristics, such an engine would mark the return of the Maserati "Biturbo" - sans the atrocious reliability problems of the early 1984 Alessandro de Tomaso developed coupes. Higher up in the range, there's a very real possibility that this Maserati will be fitted with an all-new V8. The forthcoming engine is expected to feature a displacement of around 5.0-litres and produce in excess of 420-horsepower.

While front-wheel drive is an option for Alfa Romeos, it isn't for a Maserati as there is a reputation for the brand to uphold. Luckily, Alfa Romeo invested in an all-wheel drive system to harness the power and torque of its more powerful models. The system uses the new Torsen C system, which can distribute and shift torque, seemingly at whim between the front and rear axles to help create neutral steering even under extreme cornering. It is perhaps the most advanced AWD system this side of Honda's SH-AWD featured on the new Acura RL.

While building a Maserati crossover may seem illogical, this is merely one component to the master plan of propping the Trident brand's sales, according to Karl Kalbfell, the man in charge of running Alfa Romeo and Maserati. The ex-BMW boss intends to help Fiat, the parent company, return to profitability by bringing attention to its luxury brands, in particular Alfa Romeo, which is set to return to North America in the near future. With an established network of Ferrari-Maserati dealers in North America, hot new products such as the 159 and Brera sports coupe, as well as a new crossover for its Maserati subsidiary, Alfa's return to North America would certainly be on the right foot. The wagon will also be a key player in helping Maserati reach its year 2007 projected sales goal of 10,000 units; a slight internal hint that the vehicle could be on sale as early as late 2006.