Maserati’s Quattroporte disappointed us in the press photos. The car’s grown quite a lot, and appeared to have lost some of the previous generation’s character. We stand by that view on the stand here in Detroit, where the Quattroporte looks like it’s riding a little high, is a little long in the wheelbase and a little soft and indistinct in some of its surfacing, particularly around the shoulder.
However, it definitely works better in the metal. Particularly when seen form the rear, it has a simple elegance.
Step inside and what might look like an underwhelming interior in pictures is exactly as you might hope an Italian luxury interior would look and feel. In the back, there’s now room for two broad 6ft something men in bespoke Italian suits. Their coiffed heads won’t touch the ceiling and there’s enough leg and foot space enough for long, comfortable rides. This won’t go un-noticed in China.
But it’s the use of materials that really stands out. Forget the predictable carbon fiber trim option and have a look at the matte, grained wood. This is used as a primary element in the upper IP and is cut across the grain to give a real 3D effect. Maserati’s not alone in offering this, but it’s genuinely beautiful to look at and touch – the next step beyond wood veneer.
It’s mated with chrome, that’s joyously – but simply – executed. The centre horizontal bar of the air vent runs out and along the IP, where it feautres a surface break for the trad Maserati clock. But it’s even better on the doors, where a lovely long wand of a door handle is visually extended right under the wood fillet to form elegant underscores to the door cappings.
In true Italian style, the stand guys told us that someone had shipped the wrong power packs to the show, so the cars couldn’t be powered up properly, meaning we can’t comment on the HMI/touchscreen interface yet, though it derives from Chrysler’s new uConnect system, which bodes well as it won awards at CES last week.
Joe Simpson
