Maserati Unveils New Car Called the 'Ghibli'

By COLUM MURPHY

Maserati unveiled a new car called the Ghibli on Saturday, the latest addition to its expanding model range, as the Italian luxury sports-car maker pursues an ambitious plan to reassert itself in the global market and increase sales in the coming years.

Maserati, a unit of Fiat SpA, F.MI +1.65% will use the four-door sedan to push into a segment of the market—known in Europe as the E Segment—and compete against high-performance versions of the Audi NSU.XE +1.05% A6 of Volkswagen AG,VOW.XE +2.75% the BMW BMW.XE +1.42% 5 Series and the Mercedes E Class ofDaimler DAI.XE +0.50% AG.

Named after a wind in the North African desert, the Ghibli is the second model launched under Maserati's €1.2 billion ($1.57 billion) plan that targets total unit sales of 50,000 by 2015—a significant jump from last year's 6,288 units.

Analysts at IHS Automotive have set a more-modest target for Maserati at 40,000 vehicles given the fierce competition in this higher end of the market. The target is about half of the 84,000 in vehicle sales that IHS expects by the same time from Jaguar of Tata Motors Co., 500570.BY +4.15% some of whose more pricey models compete with Maserati.

Maserati's first model under the plan is a new version of its flagship Quattroporte sedan that went on sale early this year. It expects the Quattroporte and the Ghibli to give an immediate boost to sales this year, with a forecast this year of selling between 13,000 and 15,000 vehicles, and the second some 10,000 vehicles.

Its chief executive, Harald Wester, told reporters after the unveiling of the Ghibli at the Shanghai motor show that about 1,000 customers in China had already made downpayments for a Quattroporte.

Built in Italy, the Quattroporte and the smaller Ghibli belong to an even-wider strategy by Fiat to focus more of its manufacturing in Italy on making cars for its premium brands including Alfa Romeo.

Faced with a decline in demand for cars of mass-market brands in Europe, Fiat is betting on its roster of premium models to save its operations in the region, where it lost about €700 million at the operating level in 2012.

This year doesn't look any better, with analysts expecting the region's overall market to fall by 5%.

Premium car makers such as Audi and BMW have suffered less from this crisis because their customers are less prone to alter their spending habits. The presence of these brands in China has also enabled them to ride the boom in demand for expensive cars in that country.

China is "the biggest luxury market in the world," Mr. Wester said.

This market helped BMW, for example, post record global vehicle sales of 191,269 in March for all its brands including the Mini, 3% more than a year ago.

Production of the Ghibli will start in June. Maserati in years past made models called the Ghibli but it hasn't offered one since the 1990s. It will come with the option of two turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 engines, one of which will be diesel—a first for Maserati. And it will sell for less than €100,000 apiece.

Apart from its sporting heritage, Maserati has the extra cache of having Ferrari, another luxury sports-car brand controlled by Fiat, build its engines.

Based in the Italian town of Modena, Maserati is one of the few profitable brands belonging to Fiat without taking into account Chrysler Group LLC, which is also controlled by the Italian auto maker.

In 2012, Maserati's trading profit—or operating profit excluding extraordinary items—edged a little higher to €42 million on revenue of €634 million.

It trails behind Ferrari, whose trading profit was €350 million on revenue of €2.4 billion for the year.

China is Maserati's second biggest market after the U.S., responsible for 930 units or 15% of the total shipped in 2012.

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