First look: Fresh style and S version for Quattroporte

MASERATI’S super-successful Quattroporte has reached middle age and, not content with tweaking the sleek sedan via a range of cosmetic and technical upgrades, the Italian maker has added a more powerful new flagship variant dubbed the Quattroporte S.

First examples of the fresh, twin-pronged Quattroporte range arrive in Australia by January 2009 – around the same time as the new GranTurismo S coupe, with which the Quattroporte S shares its bigger 4.7-litre V8.

Though the top-shelf Quattroporte’s version offers slightly less power than the GranTurismo S coupe (316kW versus 328kW, giving two-door S a 0-100km/h acceleration time of 4.9 seconds and making it the quickest Maserati ever), the four-door S will become Maserati’s flagship model, with a pricing in the low-$300,000s to match.

Both S models will be priced above the current Quattroporte GT S, which was unveiled at the 2008 Melbourne show and costs $308,000.

Despite the continuation of the Quattroporte’s current 294kW/451Nm 4.2-litre V8 in the entry-level variant, expect base pricing to rise from $269,000 to closer to $300,000, or around the same money as the GranTursimo ($292,800).

The complicated Sport GT, Sport GT-S and Executive GT line-up will be dropped, and the current Quattroporte’s six-speed ZF auto to be fitted to both variants.

Maserati next year expects to sell about 130 examples of the revised Quattroporte in Australia, where it will make its national debut at the Sydney motor show in October. Its global launch is just three weeks away, however, and will be followed by customer events both internationally and locally from mid-August.

Changes to rest of the Quattroporte line-up for 2009 are less ambitious, as you’d expect for a model that has won 46 international awards and racked up 15,000 global sales in the past four years, making it Maserati’s most popular model ever and returning the historic Italian brand to profitability.

As these first pictures reveal, the most obvious external changes include a vertical-slat grille that borrows style themes from the GranTurismo, more aggressive new front and rear bumpers, updated head and tail-lights that now feature LED lighting technology, more pronounced side skirts and new door mirrors.

Inside, there’s a new centre console, with controls group more closely together for better ergonomics, while an updated navigation system now comprises a new Maserati multi-media system.

Two new shades of leather, Marrone Corniola and Sabbia, replace the existing Maserati sedan’s beige trim colour in the Quattroporte S and Quattroporte respectively.

Maserati achieved a 25 per cent sales increase in Australia last year, mostly on the back of the Quattroporte, which continues to be a sell-out success here.

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