What do we call the outgoing QP?
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conaero
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Like it, great minds and all that.
dickygrace
www.richardgracecars.co.uk
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QP V too, simple.
npaskin
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I agree, QP V. The I-V series designation is well established: see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maserati_Quattroporte. If we want to make the point about the design being good, then call it the Pininfarina QP.
I don't know why they did it. Maybe the Chinese buyers aren't aware of he history of these various marques and don't realise that Maserati is a few rungs up the ladder from an Audi?
This is an interesting point. I lived in the US for a couple of years. Whilst their view that the European brands (BMW/Merc/Audi) were considered premium compared to the US brands was no surprise, what did surprise me a little was that they thought more highly (and en vogue) of BMW than Mercedes. Without meaning to launch a heated debate, I would hazard a guess that most people in the UK would deem Mercedes to be a tad more prestigious than BMW (and that comes from someone who has always preferred a Bema over a Merc). For the record, the yanks love their Maserati's - always have. I think that the marque has more respect there than in the UK where it is only recently discovering a resurgence.
So attitudes to brands is different in every country you go. As Simon points out, Maserati is a relatively unknown brand in the Asian market. In India (a pretty big place with lots of people I'm sure you'd agree!), for example, Maserati is pretty much non-existent! I would imagine in China it's pretty similar. So these are untapped markets for Maserati (and all the Italian marques for that matter) and a lot will depend on how the public's views are influenced by the little bit of marketing/PR they do. Heritage always help of course but I think form and function probably trumps that in the early days. The public need to see these cars on their roads in their environment - that must surely be paramount in winning their hearts and minds.
And what might work here in the UK might not necessarily work in China/India. If Maserati are serious about these markets, which it looks like they are, I think we may see a lot more cars that may not sit well with us UK Maseratisti!
So attitudes to brands is different in every country you go. As Simon points out, Maserati is a relatively unknown brand in the Asian market. In India (a pretty big place with lots of people I'm sure you'd agree!), for example, Maserati is pretty much non-existent! I would imagine in China it's pretty similar. So these are untapped markets for Maserati (and all the Italian marques for that matter) and a lot will depend on how the public's views are influenced by the little bit of marketing/PR they do. Heritage always help of course but I think form and function probably trumps that in the early days. The public need to see these cars on their roads in their environment - that must surely be paramount in winning their hearts and minds.
And what might work here in the UK might not necessarily work in China/India. If Maserati are serious about these markets, which it looks like they are, I think we may see a lot more cars that may not sit well with us UK Maseratisti!
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hodroyd
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I have to agree with that Dhanjit. The other things to consider though are road conditions. For example driving around in such as Pakistan, the roads are pretty rough, plus in such as Karachi they pinch all the manhole covers and you run the risk of losing an axle. I have driven in such as India too and the main roads are better, but the trend seems to be with either Tata derived vehicles, or Japanese in the main. As money increases in these markets cars will probably sell well, but the need for an infrastructure is paramount as we all well know. It could do with Maserati getting a large dealer groups to invest in the brand, then sales should start to get going. It might even pay for Maserati to open an office / dealership in such as India, the market is massive and growing.