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Camal Studio pays tribute to the Maserati GranTurismo

Although the Maserati GranTurismo may have looked pretty hot when it hit the scene in 2007, eight years on, it's starting to show its age. Maserati is focusing its attention on the new Quattroporte, Ghibli and upcoming Levante utility vehicle, but Camal Studio is evidently keen to pick up what Maserati has let fall by the wayside.
The design house, as you may recall, was founded by former Pininfarina designers - the same firm that penned the GranTurimso (among other Maseratis) in the first place. Camal calls its redesign the Tributo (a name which should require no translation) and it draws its inspiration from Maserati GTs past like the original Ghibli, Bora and Khamsin. The resulting design comes across as clean enough, but to our eyes somewhat unremarkable. And if you're going to go to the trouble of coachbuilding a Maserati, you might as well go for a bit more visual impact. But that's judging solely from the renderings, and that's just our opinion - the financially well-endowed customers Camal is going after may feel otherwise once they see it in the flesh.

Maserati Ghibli overtakes Levante, headed for Shanghai?

While earlier reports indicated that the next Maserati product out of the gate would be the Levante SUV, Motor Trend is now reporting that the Audi A7-shaped Ghibli has cut in line. Word is that we may see the new Ghibli as early as the Shanghai Motor Show in April.
Citing unnamed sources, MT predicts that the minds at Maserati now see a more pressing need to fight off the likes of the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and the BMW 5 Series than to go after luxury utes. However, if our spy shots of Ghibli prototypes are anything to go on, it's also likely that the sub-Quattroporte Maser won't be a traditional sedan. The car above's long nose, low roof and brief, sloping rear deck all bring to mind Audi's lovely A7, Meaning the Ghibli may fall into the always murky four-door-coupe/luxury hatchback genre.
Bi-turbocharged iterations of both a V6 and a V8 should make up the early powertrain choices for the Maserati, meaning the top-spec Ghibli should have loads of shove to match its promised good looks.

Dealer sues Maserati for fabricating sales numbers

A Maserati dealer with stores in New York, New Jersey, and Florida is suing Maserati North America for allegedly requesting that they inflate sales or receive lower incentives. The plaintiff in this case refused to participate and claims that it unfairly lost profits as a result, according to Automotive News. The lawsuit hinges on a request from FCA that its dealers move vehicles into their test-drive fleet, a practice called punching them. Most stores keep at least one example of each model in their demonstrator fleet. While they don't immediately go to a customer, a punched vehicle appears as a sale for an automaker at the end of the month. This case alleges that Maserati North America told its dealers in September 2014 to punch 2015 Ghiblis, even though the sedans hadn't been delivered yet. As a result, the Italian automaker was able to post an additional 105 sales for the month. Furthermore, the stores purportedly received additional bonuses when they later sold these models to customers, and there was possibly another request to claim vehicles as demonstrators in December 2014, Automotive News reports. Amid rapidly growing global demand, Maserati increased Ghibli and Quattroporte production to 900 cars per week in mid-2014. However, the company had to reverse course in 2015 and cut back shifts at its Grugliasco factory. The launch of the upcoming Levante crossover is expected to bring another boost.