Maserati Ghibli features first diesel engine from the Italian marque

Maserati aims to sell up to 50,000 cars a year and it sets off with the all new Quattroporte and now continues with the all new Ghibli - the first ever mid size sedan in the history of the Italian marque. With the Ghibli and Quattroporte at the Shanghai Motor Show, it marks the first time in Maserati history to have two four-door saloons on sale at the same time.

The Ghibli's design ethos emphasises its more dynamic driving characteristics by maintaining visible links with the larger Quattroporte while delivering a more aggressive visual personality.

The outline of the body reflects a coupe-like philosophy, while there are strong feline hints around the Ghibli's grille and headlights. The grille takes its inspiration from the current GranTurismo and it can drawn back to the classic A6 GCS of the 1950s.

Inside, the Ghibli sets itself apart from the Quattroporte with a more distinctive dashboard design that exudes a sportier and youthful experience without losing any of the luxury element.

Both the Quattroporte and the Ghibli saloons will each boast two different power outputs from their turbocharged V6 petrol engines on top of Maserati's first diesel powered powertrain. The Ghibli will be available with two turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 petrol engines, and an eight-speed automatic transmission. Both engines were developed in partnership with Ferrari Powertrain and will be built by Ferrari in its engine construction facility in Maranello.

The more powerful rear-wheel driven Ghibli S produces 410bhp and 550Nm of torque and propels to 100km/h in just five seconds flat, before hitting a quoted top speed of 285km/h. The second turbocharged 3.0-litre has 330bhp and 500Nm of torque, but delivers a fuel economy figure of just 9.6L/100km despite a century dash timing of just 5.6 seconds.

The 3.0-litre turbocharged V6 diesel develops 275bhp and a high 600Nm of torque to deliver a century dash timing of just 6.3 seconds. More importantly, its fuel economy figure is less than 6.0L/100km while emitting less than 160g/km of CO₂.