2013 Maserati Quattroporte revealed

Maserati has revealed the new flagship Quattroporte saloon ahead of a debut at the 2013 Detroit Motor Show.

The new Quattroporte – revealed this morning ahead of a public debut at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show – is a bigger, lighter and slicker version of the current car, designed to give Maserati a car that competes on more even terms in the luxury car market.

Maserati are being very stingy with detail on the new Quattroporte, so we’re going to have to make some educated guesses.

This new flagship Quattroporte is the bigger of the two saloon cars Maserati are launching – the second will be a smaller, M5 competing, Maserati Ghibli – and gets a new monocoque chassis. It’s bigger than the current car and much of that extra length will be in the wheelbase to keep Maserati’s Chinese customers happy.

It looks like the heart of the new Quattroporte will be an updated version of the Ferrari-built 4.7 litre V8 with around 500bhp, and a ZF auto ‘box, which should offer both better performance and better economy thanks to its tweaks and the expected lower weight of the new Quattroporte.

But it won’t just be a range-topping V8 on offer, Maserati has plans for a supercharged Ferrari V6 too for the Quattroporte and even diesel options – although all will come later as will a 4WD option.

The looks of the new Quattroporte aren’t particularly stunning – it’s a ‘safe’ design – and there’s more than an echo of Infiniti going on – and a smiling face.

Inside, Maserati are aiming for a much more luxurious tech fest than the current car – and hopefully a more sensible access to controls – with a big Infotainment centre housing much of the controls and high quality leathers and veneers.

We’ll no doubt get more detail on the new Quattroporte ahead of Detroit and then we can start looking forward to the Maserati that should be really appealing – the new Maserati Ghibli.

2013 Maserati Quattroporte Photos >>

By Cars UK