Italian super car manufacturer Maserati might get into the lucrative SUV business to tap into Porsche’s success story the Cayenne. They are looking at taking a slice of the very popular Porsche Cayenne, Land Rover, Lexus RX, Range Rover Sport, Mercedes ML and Audi Q7 pie. According to Harald Wester, who oversees the entire passenger-car business for all Fiat brands, the still-nameless four-wheel-drive luxury trident gets its own exterior, its own interior, and its own engines. Only the body architecture, the suspension, the key safety elements and the electronic platform are to be shared with its North American sibling.
Look out for exclusive features such as Maserati’s Corsa button, which stiffens dampers and quickens gearchanges. On the engine front, we should see a specially prepared version of the Pentastar V-6 reportedly rated at 350 hp. One rung up, there almost certainly will be a 3.9-liter V-8 designed and built by Ferrari.
Featuring active intake and exhaust manifolds and a two-stage exhaust, this direct-injection twin-turbo unit is tipped to deliver 450 hp. For Europe only, there likely will be a high-performance 3.0-liter turbo-diesel good for perhaps 250 hp. The transmission of choice is allegedly an eight-speed ZF automatic. We wait for Naza Italia to confirm rumors.
