What's Wrong With This Picture: The Italian Job Edition
Via Autocar come these first pictures of a long-rumored entry-level Maserati sedan testing in Europe with Quattroporte-based bodywork. The British buff book reports
Despite looking similar to the Quattroporte at first glance, the mule’s identity is given away by its shorter wheelbase, smaller front brakes and ill-fitting windscreen. The mule also sports just one exhaust pipe on each side at the rear, instead of the brace that appear out of the bumper on each side of its bigger brother.
The €55k Maserati sedan is said to be based on the platform used for Alfa’s 166 replacement, which is widely rumored to be the same Chrysler LX platform that currently underpins the 300 and Dodge Charger. However, because the LX platform’s wheelbase is only .6 inches shorter than the Quattroporte’s 120.6 inch measurement, it’s perhaps more likely that this BMW M5-fighter is based on the shorter LY variant, which has a 116 inch wheelbase. In any case, the global success of the Quattroporte makes this entry-level model of special interest… especially if Maserati can spin a Chrysler-based platform into sales gold.
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The LY platform? Do you mean the LC platform? And is a "BMM5" a BMW M5? Regular 5-series?
Squint your eyes and it could be a new 300M.