Maserati will show an SUV concept car like this at the 2011 Frankfurt motor show. It’s the long-awaited Maserati 4×4 shown in thinly veiled show car guise; you can expect something very similar on London and Cheshire driveways from 2013.
Based on the Jeep Grand Cherokee, the 2013 Maser SUV will have totally new bodywork and a bespoke interior. Maser knows if it is to dip into the parts sharing game, it must change things wholesale.
Maserati SUV: I thought you had leaked photos?
So did we! CAR thought it had obtained a photo ahead of a planned unveiling on Tuesday at the 2011 Frankfurt motor show after it was released prematurely in IAA literature.
Turns out it was an artist’s impression crafted for Quattroruote magazine in Italy. Doh.
The 4×4 is part of a plan to lift Maserati sales tenfold. Last year, Modena sold 5600 vehicles, but with the SUV and a host of new product – including 2012’s new Quattroporte, which will extend to include six-cylinder power and diesels – it hopes to hit as high as 50,000 units a year.
Providing the go in this reskinned Grand Cherokee is an all-Italian Maserati 4.7-litre V8 mustering some 450bhp. As previously reported by CAR, Maser will have to offer a diesel in Europe to be competitive; a 3.0 V6 TD is likely to come from derv specialist VM Motori.
What else do we know about the Maserati SUV concept car?
We’ll hear the full story on 13 September 2011 at the IAA Frankfurt auto show. But for now we’d say this is one very-close-to-production Maser off-roader.
The car will be built at the same plant as the Jeep Grand Cherokee – Chrysler’s Jefferson North plant in Detroit. Modena-meets-Michigan.
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