NAIAS: Maserati Kubang

by Jack Baruth

Published: January 10th, 2012

The most ridiculous, but oddly exciting, exercise in brand extension since Jennie Garth’s “Body In Progress” video made a public debut today. Zerin and Byron from Speed:Sport:Life were there to shoot and talk ~~trucks~~ upscale activity vehicles.

“Maserati held out until late in the day on Tuesday to show us their new Kubang. There’s not much to say, really. The Infiniti FX-meets-Maser-Gran-Turismo styling works better from some angles than others, but like most in this class, this car won’t be shopped for its looks. Maserati claims the Kubang will be powered by engines built in Italy. Early rumors pointed to Hemi power, and while this would appear to put those stories to rest, it’s not entirely out of the question that Maserati will simply build a breathed-on Hemi specifically for their SUV, rather than simply transplant the Chrysler variant (much the same way Mazda and Ford built slightly different versions of the Duratec V6 engines). What they did confirm is that the Kubang will be built in the U.S.”

Well, there you have it! Maserati’s typically combined the worst residuals, the biggest discounts, and the most enthusiastic lease programs in the business, so if you can somehow resist the impulse to pay full pop for a Kubang on Day One, it should be a $699/month lease before you know it. Plus, it’s built in the United States, just like all the other great European SUVs.

Jack Baruth

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2 of 41 comments

Th009 on Jan 11, 2012

Marchionne is positioning Maserati as a Porsche competitor, so expect a Cayenne-like price tag for this one: http://www.autoblog.com/2011/10/24/marchionne-aims-maserati-at-porsche-and-bentley/ And apparently this will help Maserati move from 6000 cars/year to 60,000.

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Mark MacInnis on Jan 11, 2012

Maybe they could make a movie to promote this car? An edgy, modernized tale of an automotive engineer, divorced with two children, who is dating the daughter of an ex-military officer. Dad and the children get kidnapped by terrorists, and the automotive engineer has to modify an Italian SUV for a rescue mission, with his buxom girlfriend's help. Many explosions, car chase between a Ferrari and our hero's invention, lots of hand-to-hand combat, a plethora of snappy patter as villians are dispatched in horrifyingly humorous and ironic ways... and a gratuitous shower scene between the hero and his girlfriend. We could call it Chitty Chitty Kubang Kubang. Hey, remakes are all the rage in Hollywood....

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