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Maserati cutting Ghibli, Quattroporte production on slowing demand

If Maserati is going to meet its ambitious sale targets, it's going to need to grow as fast as its cars can accelerate. But lately, the Trident marque has seen demand for its luxury sedans flattening, if not receding. And now Maserati has had to cut production to avoid overshooting demand. We've been seeing reports of production being trimmed at the company's Grugliasco plant near Turin, Italy, for over a month now. But while earlier reports seemed to indicate the trouble was rooted in supplier issues, the latest suggests that slowing demand is the culprit. According to Automotive News Europe, parent company Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has had to cut the number of shifts at Grugliasco (where the Ghibli and Quattroporte are produced) from 12 per week to 10. "Fiat has told us that workers at the Grugliasco plant will be working for three weeks out of four up until July," union leader Federico Bellono told ANE. "The company is predicting production of about 30,000 to 35,000 cars at Grugliasco this year. I think it will be closer to 30,000." Last year the plant produced 34,000 units, with the sedans accounting for the bulk of Maserati's sales. Of the 36,448 units the Modena-based automaker sold last year, 23,500 were Ghiblis and 9,500 were Quattroportes, with the GranTurismo accounting for just 3,500 units. That's up considerably from the total of 15,400 units it sold in 2013, but is still some ways off from the 50,000 it hopes to reach this year and the 75,000 it aims to achieve by 2018. The arrival of the upcoming Levante crossover, as well as the Alfieri sports car and new GranTurismo, will surely help. But if Maserati is going to reach its ambitious sales targets, it's going to have to find more buyers for its core sedans. Repeated requests made by Autoblog for comment from Maserati have yet to be answered, but we'll be sure to update you if and when relevant new information comes to light. Related Video:

Audi gets Q2 and Q4 badges in trademark swap with FCA

Audi has swapped trademarks with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to snare the rights to the Q2 and Q4 badges for upcoming crossover SUVs. Audi CEO Rupert Stadler confirmed at the Detroit Motor Show that the automaker had finally persuaded FCA to release the two names that would let Audi lock up the Q1 to Q9 badges for its growing SUV family. Audi already plans to drop the Q2 name onto its MQB-based city crossover five-door this year, while the Q4 badge will slot onto the rump of a coupe-like version of the next Q3. It will also reserve the Q1 badge for a 2018 baby crossover, based around the architecture of the next A1 hatch. The A1 will share a lot of its engineering with Volkswagen's Polo-based soft-roader, dubbed T-Cross in concept form. The German company has also pounced on the naming rights for SQ versions of all of its Q-cars, along with F-Tron to cover the day when it pushes hydrogen fuel cell cars into production. Stadler insisted that no money had changed hands in order to pry the two badges off FCA, admitting that they had "each found something we needed." "We promised each other we wouldn't disclose what it cost, but it was not something they were willing to sell," Stadler said. "We tried to get it years ago and they said 'No, never,' but there is never 'never' in business. ... This year I went back to them with a proposal and we talked and there were some negotiations and then we agreed to it." Those negotiations are believed to have centered on a trademark swap with a Volkswagen Group name that FCA desperately (evidently) wants to use on a Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge or Maserati. Asked if Audi had given FCA a trademark in return for Q2 and Q4, Stadler replied, "Something very much like that, yes." Audi has used Italian names on past concept cars that FCA could be interested in, such as the 2001 Avantissimo concept and the 2003 Nuvolari coupe. The latter was named after legendary pre-war racer Tazio, who won grands prix for both Alfa Romeo and Audi's forerunner, Auto Union. Both are unlikely trade chips, with laws in Europe preventing the trademarking of the names of actual people. There is always "quattro" (Italian for "four"), but after investing nearly four decades locking it in as an Audi all-wheel-drive name, it's just not anything like trade bait.

2014 Maserati Ghibli S Q4 [w/video]

For one reason or another, this is a car people stare at. They might be drawn to its curvaceous shape riding on immense wheels. They could be intrigued by its gaping, blacked-out grille which houses an equally outsized trident logo, or doing quick calculations about the last time they saw a car wearing the name Maserati. It may be its sports-car-like proportions mixed with achingly long, four-door bodywork that draws their eye.
Or, and I urge you to consider this theory carefully, the people taking notice of this Maserati Ghibli S Q4 might simply be newly alert after hearing the sound of its exhaust ricocheting off any solid thing nearby as I drive past grinning like a certified asshat. Did you hear an Italianate engine song careening through your Ann Arbor, MI neighborhood, in the black of the early morning, just a few weeks previous? Sorry, guy, that was probably me.
I spent a week hammering this all-wheel-drive Ghibli as hard as I dared in the last truly miserable stretch of the God Awful Winter of 2014. I can honestly say that I enjoyed myself, shocked at both the frank way this new challenger luxury car went down the road as well as the attention it garnered in the process.