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Earlier this year, a report had emerged claiming that Maserati suspended development of its new battery-powered Quattroporte, pushing the sedan's release date back to 2028. While reasons were scarce back then, it has now been made clear that the Italian automaker is debating whether it should use the STLA Large platform as originally planned, or if a different architecture would better suit the company's next four-door masterpiece.
Davide Danesin, chief engineer behind the Quattroporte and GranTurismo, recently spoke to Autocar about the situation. He said the company had finished roughly half of the vehicle's development when it opted to put things on hold, and that Maserati still hasn't made a decision on which platform to use. "I’m not saying it’s not [STLA Large]," he clarified. "I think that the optimization we’re looking for is optimization of what is already available."
The dispute about the Quattroporte's platform stemmed from "the need to take zero risks on the performance level," according to Danesin. He said that the original project based on the STLA Large platform fell short in terms or range and performance, something that Maserati simply couldn't accept.
"The Quattroporte is an important problem for Maserati," he said. "It has to be outstanding from any perspective: style, architecture, performance. There’s also a lot of improvement coming in on electrical development in the future. The new target for range also needs to be much stronger. These days, [373 miles] is good enough. Maybe for a new Quattroporte, we would like more."
While we're sure Maserati has the styling part down, what lies beneath is posing a number of issues. "Modern electric cars are becoming heavier and heavier, and we need to stop this tendency," Danesin continued. "Putting together all this stuff, we decided that we [would need] some more time to optimize the package, and this is why we decided to postpone it."
Should Maserati decide to move away from the STLA Large platform, it might use a stretched version of the GranTurismo Folgore underpinnings instead. Danesin remarked that this could "potentially" work for the Quattroporte, as the GranTurismo features a T-shaped battery layout instead of the conventional floor-mounted skateboard setup, enabling a sportier driving position that sits lower to the ground. Considering how the latest GranTurismo ended up looking with that architecture, we're excited to see what Maserati could come up with for the next Quattroporte.
Image Credits: Maserati
Report
Apr 26, 2024
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Maserati Engineer Explains Why Company Put Quattroporte EV On Hold
The Italian automaker is unsure about which platform it should use for the electric sedan.
Earlier this year, a report had emerged claiming that Maserati suspended development of its new battery-powered Quattroporte, pushing the sedan's release date back to 2028. While reasons were scarce back then, it has now been made clear that the Italian automaker is debating whether it should use the STLA Large platform as originally planned, or if a different architecture would better suit the company's next four-door masterpiece.
Davide Danesin, chief engineer behind the Quattroporte and GranTurismo, recently spoke to Autocar about the situation. He said the company had finished roughly half of the vehicle's development when it opted to put things on hold, and that Maserati still hasn't made a decision on which platform to use. "I’m not saying it’s not [STLA Large]," he clarified. "I think that the optimization we’re looking for is optimization of what is already available."
The dispute about the Quattroporte's platform stemmed from "the need to take zero risks on the performance level," according to Danesin. He said that the original project based on the STLA Large platform fell short in terms or range and performance, something that Maserati simply couldn't accept.
"The Quattroporte is an important problem for Maserati," he said. "It has to be outstanding from any perspective: style, architecture, performance. There’s also a lot of improvement coming in on electrical development in the future. The new target for range also needs to be much stronger. These days, [373 miles] is good enough. Maybe for a new Quattroporte, we would like more."
While we're sure Maserati has the styling part down, what lies beneath is posing a number of issues. "Modern electric cars are becoming heavier and heavier, and we need to stop this tendency," Danesin continued. "Putting together all this stuff, we decided that we [would need] some more time to optimize the package, and this is why we decided to postpone it."
Should Maserati decide to move away from the STLA Large platform, it might use a stretched version of the GranTurismo Folgore underpinnings instead. Danesin remarked that this could "potentially" work for the Quattroporte, as the GranTurismo features a T-shaped battery layout instead of the conventional floor-mounted skateboard setup, enabling a sportier driving position that sits lower to the ground. Considering how the latest GranTurismo ended up looking with that architecture, we're excited to see what Maserati could come up with for the next Quattroporte.
Image Credits: Maserati
