The long-anticipated luxury SUV from Maserati has been revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
The new relationship with sister brand Jeep is the key catalyst for Maserati's own interpretation of a sport luxury SUV. The Kubang's 8-speed transmission will be designed by Maserati in Modena, with new-generation engines produced in Maranello by Ferrari.
The Kubang will get Maserati proprietary engines and an eight-speed automatic transmission.
Maserati first toyed with the idea of an SUV by introducing the original Kubang concept at the 2003 Detroit Auto Show.
Maserati said that "potential synergies with sister brand Jeep" are making the Kubang a reality. Fiat Group owns Chrysler and Maserati.
Maserati said the Kubang will get "new-generation high-tech Maserati proprietary engines...designed in Modena by Paolo Martinelli," the head of the Maserati powertrain department. Maserati statement about the Kubang noted that all of the major components "will unmistakably be Maserati: style, engine, suspensions, brakes, handling and performance."
"For some reason SUVs today never seem to offer the kind of uplifting driving pleasure and luxury atmosphere that are two givens of today's high-end sports and luxury cars."
So says Maserati, and though we're quite certain rivals like Porsche, BMW and even Maserati own sister-brand, Jeep, would take offense to the claim, we feel inclined to point out that the very nature of the SUV – higher ground clearance, seating position and the subsequent higher center-of-gravity, to name just one – makes them less suitable for the kind of "driving pleasure" we'd generally associate with Maserati. Maserati claims that the Kubang's "style, engine, suspensions, brakes, handling and performance will all be 100% Maserati in picture-perfect continuity with the brand's core values of sportiness, style, elegance, luxury, performance and craftsmanship."
Keen fans of the brand may remember that this isn't the first Kubang seen from Maserati.