Maserati has confirmed it is working on a new entry-level model that will be priced from around £50,000.
The car, revealed as part of Fiat's restructuring plans today, will "offer a new product package with specific contents in order to exploit Maserati DNA". The only other detail confirmed was that it would be priced at less than 55,000 euros (£47,815). No official details have been confirmed.
Maserati wants the car to give it a 10 per cent share in what it calls Europe's 'high-end E-segment'.
Also confirmed at the Maserati presentation was an all-new Quattroporte. The firm wants the car to give it a larger share in the luxury sports saloon market and it is described as having a "completely new style, offering outstanding driving emotions and high-level quality".
The firm revealed no long-term plans to replace either the Granturismo or the Grancabrio because both are still relatively new models.
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Re: Maserati plans entry-level model
Oh good lord - is this thread STILL chugging along? P6 - got bored yet? We lost interest 2 days ago!
Re: Maserati plans entry-level model
Re: Maserati plans entry-level model
Tell me more!
AFAIK the first patent was granted to a Frenchman by the name of Kégresse in the thirties. A very crude version was used in some agricultural tractors. After that, the idea was taken up by Porsche under their head of development, Ferdinand Piëch. What was by then called PDK, or Porsche DoppelKupplungsgetriebe, was raced a few times in endurance in a Porsche 962. As Piëch by then had moved on to Audi and masterminded the Quattro programme, the gearbox was also used in Audi Quattro rally cars. The rest is history, as they say.
So, tell me about the Borg Warner angle.
The current CVT was invented by Van Doorne of DAF fame. They are still the patent holders, licensing the technology to car makers.