This latest turnaround plan for Maserati does not lack ambition. Multi-billion investment in facilities and all-new models and electric cars would be a big ask for even the world’s largest car makers, let alone one that didn’t even sell 40,000 cars last year. So is this one to file under ‘We’ll believe it when we see it’, or one to heartily praise the logic of?
Maserati is trying to cover a hell of a lot of bases. It’s not simply launching a sports car, but one with petrol power, an electric variant, and an open-top version of both. It’s also planning an extra SUV model, when it hasn’t exactly set the world on fire with its first, the Levante. All while its existing models are being replaced with expanded powertrain options and fitted with autonomous technology.
Does Maserati really need to cover off so much of the market? Even if it hopes to in the long term, does it really need to state such lofty ambitions without the hint yet of something tangible to back it up? We’re excited by the plans yet surprised by how little time Maserati has given itself to realise them. It’s worth remembering that in 2015, Alfa Romeo disclosed similarly ambitious plans for its own Fiat-backed revival. Four years on, we’ve had just two cars from it.