Maserati Ghibli set to be company's first diesel

Maserati Ghibli set to be company's first diesel:

The Maserati Ghibli is smaller than the Quattroporte and seems designed for a larger market.
(Credit: Maserati)
Maserati released photos and a few details of a new car it will unveil at the Shanghai Motor Show. The Maserati Ghibli looks to be an attempt at more of a mass-market car than the Italian maker's other models.
The Ghibli will be offered with a choice of two turbocharged V-6 engines, one of which will burn diesel, mated to eight-speed automatic transmissions. Maserati says the car will come in rear-wheel and all-wheel-drive versions.
The Ghibli is intended to bolster Maserati's plans to sell 50,000 cars per year.
The interior picture shows luxury materials one would expect from Maserati. Red leather covers the seats and carbon-fiber panels top the console.
The center LCD has only two dials, one on either side of the bezel in standard volume/tuning format. The lack of other controls suggests the Ghibli will have a touch screen. The LCD appears close enough to the driver to allow touch-screen operation.
Anime fans may perk up at the name, referencing director Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli in Japan. Wikipedia says that the studio's name was taken from the nickname for an Italian warplane, the Caproni Ca.309, from World War II. That derivation seems likely, considering Studio Ghibli's film, Porco Ros... [Read more]