Maserati Ghibli teased ahead of Shanghai Motor Show debut

Maserati appear to be teasing the arrival of the smaller Quattroporte – the Maserati Ghibli – at the Shanghai Motor Show later this month.

Maserati is on a bit of a new model rush at the moment, and it looks like the tease photo they’ve released today is for the new Maserati Ghibli.

The Maserati Ghibli isn’t going to be a sporty coupe – as you might reasonably expect – but a cut-down version of the new Quattroporte, designed to take on the performance versions of Europe’s executive express cars – think BMW 5 Series, Mercedes E Class and Jaguar XF.

The new Maserati Quattroporte, which was revealed last November, is aimed at Europe’s best luxury cars – like the S Class and XJ – but its smaller sibling is designed to take on the class below and we expect that, apart from being based on the Quattroporte, the Ghibli will share its engines.

That will mean an entry-level V6 Turbo with 404bhp an d 406lb/ft of torque which, in the Ghibli, will be enough to see a 0-62mph time in the sub-5 second range, will be built by Ferrari in Maranello and have the option of 4WD.

The engine option with real teeth – and aimed at cars like the Mercedes E63 AMG, BMW M5 and Jaguar XFR-S – will be a 3.8 litre twin turbo V8, good for 523bhp and 479lb/ft of torque and a 0-62mph time that should be not a lot more then 4 seconds.

Which all sounds very promising and will, depending on how aggressively Maserati prices the Ghibli, offer a viable, slightly left-field, alternative for car buyers in this sector.

More at Shanghai later this month, or before if Maserati decide to reveal the new Ghibli ahead of time.

By Cars UK