The Maserati Quattroporte is the quintessential exotic sports sedan, but it has largely faded from view over the past few years. That is surprising, given that the “four-door coupe” segment has exploded.
Audi A7, Aston Martin Rapide, Porsche Panamera, anyone? The Quattroporte has a rich history of four-door performance. The current car is getting long in the tooth; the current car was introduced back in 2004. Fiat is in the process of relaunching Maserati, with the brand slated to play a much larger luxury role at the company going forward.
That’s why the next Quattroporte has a opportunity to make a big statement for Maserati design. Currently, the Fiat-Chrysler group is without a global volume luxury brand. That impacts margins and is something Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne is aiming to fix. With Alfa Romeo years away from reaching that status, Fiat plans to boost global Maserati sales to 50,000 units. A redesigned Quattroporte and smaller M5-fighting sedan are on their way to help achieve that. The redesigned Quattroporte will move upmarket to accommodate the smaller sedan.
To that end, Motor Authority has discovered some patent renderings depicting the next-generation sedan. They were filed with the European Patent Office. As is the case with most renderings, they do little more than show off the basic shape. What we do know from them is that the new sedan will continue to be large, and display traditional Maserati design cues. After seeing some renderings, we’ve had high hopes that the new sedan would be an all-out stunner. The trademark drawings seem to indicate that Maserati will play it relatively safe. However, these types of filings don’t do any justice to a car’s design, so don’t get to judging just yet. We won’t have to wait that much longer to see the real thing: the production Quattroporte is scheduled to debut next January at the North American International Auto Show.
