Nobody can accuse Sergio Marchionne, the Canadian/Italian who runs Fiat and Chrysler, of thinking small - he's just announced that Maserati has not one but three new models in the pipeline.
We all know about the Kubang SUV, first shown at Frankfurt, but there will also be a (long-overdue) replacement for the Quattroporte and a smaller four-door sedan aimed straight at E-segment players such as the Jaguar XF and BMW 5 Series.
Marchionne confirmed to Car magazine that the smaller sedan would be built on the Chrysler 300C platform, but insisted that “the suspension is completely different and the engines are totally Ferrari/Maserati”.
We hope so. The 300C is a fine car as brick outhouses go but it's not a Maserati.
Both sedans, he said, would be made in Italy, probably at the plant in Modena that currently produces the Quattroporte.
“There's some debate to what happens to that plant after the Quattroporte,” he told Car. “There is sufficient commonality in what we're doing between the smaller car and the bigger one that we can do what we want.”
Then he poured cold water on the rumour that VW was interested in buying Alfa, saying, “Alfa in VW's hands would not be Alfa.”
He said bluntly that Wolfsburg's platform strategy would change the Alfa Romeo character for the worse and besides, the brand was not for sale - unless someone was prepared to pay him silly money for it