Maserati has retired the Quattroporte saloon and Levante SUV, bringing an end to the Italian firm’s V8 era, with the smaller Ghibli having retired earlier this year.
All three were based on the M156 platform, developed under Fiat’s ownership of Maserati, and had been built at the Mirafiori factory alongside the new Maserati Granturismo and Fiat 500e.
They were the final cars to offer the twin-turbocharged 3.8-litre ‘F134’ V8 designed by Ferrari. The engined has bowed out in the Quattroporte Grand Finale (pictured below), a custom-built car for a US-based owner.
It means Maserati’s line-up now comprises just three core models: the Granturismo and its Grancabrio sibling, the Grecale SUV and MC20 supercar.
The company said in a statement: “Maserati is in a transition period towards electrification with its Folgore BEV program. Today the Trident offers [the] Granturismo and Grancabrio in ICE and BEV versions [and the] Grecale in ICE, mild-hybrid and BEV versions, while we confirm that successors of the Quattroporte and Levante are also in preparation.”
The new electric-only Levante is expected to be Maserati’s next new product launch, given that the electric Quattroporte was recently delayed to 2028.
Davide Danesin, chief engineer of the Quattroporte and Granturismo, told Autocar that development was around halfway complete before it was pushed back. He called the car “an important problem for Maserati”, noting that it needed to be “outstanding from any perspective”.
Danesin highlighted EV range in particular as a hurdle for Maserati to overcome, suggesting it would want its luxury saloon to be capable of more than 600km (373 miles) between charges.
Maserati remains committed to going all-electric in 2028, despite the challenges it's facing with developing its next-generation cars.
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Strong parallels with Jaguar. Both brands that have consistently underperformed and not realised the potential many think they have.
Re-inventing themselves as pure EV could work I guess. But I also doubt that consumers care enough, or trust enough the brands.
After all, another area where they have strong parallels is in unreliability.
In my view, they're both doomed.
Last week we had a story about how dodgy Maserati's future was, sales down, all doom and gloom, and this week they cancel their V8, surely the most evocotive, and i dare say profitable thing they made.
Can they survive as makers of EVs, will people pay that much for a stylish interior? Without shouty Italian engines they will have lost one of the biggest reasons people currently buy them