Maserati prices new 2014 Ghibli at $65,600, receives 2013 Top Safety Pick by IIHS

Maserati proudly announced that their new BMW 5-Series competitor, the 2014 Ghibli, has not only been priced at $65,600 to start, but has also received a 2013 Top Safety Pick.

The 2014 Maserati Ghibli is powered by a luscious and sonorous twin-turbocharged V6 supplied by Ferrari, capable of up to 404hp, mated to a ZF-sourced eight-speed automatic. The go stuff gets channeled to either the rear or all-four wheels (optionally available later on).

For full details, check out the press release after the jump.

MASERATI GHIBLI SEDAN NAMED IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK

November 26, 2013, Englewood Cliffs, NJ – The Insurance Institute of Highway Safety today named the all-new 2014 Maserati Ghibli a 2013 Top Safety Pick.

Heralding a new era of accessibility for the legendary Italian brand while maintaining the iconic Maserati pedigree, the highly anticipated Ghibli starting at just $65,600, has just begun deliveries to the vastly expanding Maserati retail network across North America. The Ghibli features a twin-turbo V6 produced by Ferrari with up to 404 HP, an 8-speed automatic transmission, and is available in either rear or Q4 all-wheel-drive. This four-door sedan with a coupé-like appearance embodies ‘The Absolute Opposite of Ordinary’ in the mid-size segment, effortlessly expressing performance, style and luxury which are the hallmarks of a Maserati. A sporty, youthful character, inspired design and premium materials differentiate the Ghibli as a thoroughbred one looks forward to driving every day.

Now the assurance of a 2013 IIHS Top Safety Pick further underlines the Ghibli’s authority as a ‘top pick’ for sport sedan buyers.

IIHS Top Safety Pick testing simulates a side impact with a large SUV or pickup truck, front moderate overlap impact, roof-crush consistent with a rollover, and a rear collision capable of inducing whiplash. In each, the Ghibli recorded the highest-possible rating of “good.”

And, Maserati covers all the customer care benchmarks expected of a luxury manufacturer: a four year/ 50,000 mile warranty, road-side assistance, loaner car service and more.

“The all-new 2014 Maserati Ghibli represents a break from the ordinary in the mid-size sedan segment,” said Peter Grady, Maserati North America, Inc.’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Luxury sport sedan drivers can now enjoy the style and performance expected of a Maserati, and the assurance of its status as a 2013 IIHS Top Safety Safety Pick.”

The New Ghibli is equipped with a seven-airbag system to help provide occupant protection. At the front, two-stage airbags are concealed from the occupants inside the steering wheel and dashboard to help protect the head, face and chest in severe frontal accidents while a knee airbag helps protect the driver’s legs and reduces the femur load in certain crash situations. The chest and hips of the front occupants are further protected by the side airbags beneath the seat leather.

The sides of the occupants’ heads are further protected by two head “curtain” bags mounted in the roof of the car, next to the B-pillar. The “curtain” bags help protect the heads of the front and rear occupants against side impact.

The new Ghibli’s passive safety equipment has been designed to help achieve both maximum peace of mind for its occupants and to achieve five stars on the Euro NCAP crash test regime and IIHS, all without compromising its weight or fuel consumption.

Maserati has balanced these conflicting demands by using hot-formed steel in critical areas of the passenger compartment for added occupant safety, while using aluminum in other areas to save weight. In particular, the front of the passenger compartment features hot-molded steel components, with a magnesium dashboard strut to reduce weight, while the rear is stiffened with high strength steel.

The crumple zone areas at the front and rear of the car are made of extruded aluminum, while the doors, engine compartment and luggage compartment are in aluminum. Maserati’s engineers added a third load path to the front structure of the car to help dissipate load and distribute the forces on the car to help the stability of the body structure in frontal impacts.

NORTH AMERICAN ROLL OUT FOR GHIBLI

The all-new Ghibli marks a turning point in Maserati’s history; for the first time ever Maserati presents simultaneously two four-door sedan models.

The Ghibli’s design emphasizes its more dynamic driving characteristics and expresses an altogether more aggressive personality while still maintaining clear links with the larger Quattroporte.

The outline of the body gives this four-door sedan a coupé-like appearance, and the sinuous grill and headlights hint at feline aggression. The grill takes its inspiration from the current GranTurismo but traces its origins back to the classic A6 GCS of the 1950s.

The Ghibli also maintains Maserati’s distinctive C-pillar, which delivers much of the car’s coupé-like stance and carries the classic trident logo, carrying on a tradition dating back to 1963.
The side profile is dominated by a swage line that runs from the traditional Maserati air intakes behind the front wheels and finishes at the rear lights.

Inside, the Ghibli sets itself apart from the Quattroporte. Its unique dashboard design perfectly matches its sportier and more youthful character without losing any of the luxury expected from Maserati. The Ghibli nevertheless succeeds in combining its sporty nature with the typical spaciousness of an executive model.

The design of the Ghibli is based on a far sportier concept than the larger Quattroporte. The car offers a choice of two 3.0 liter V6 twin turbo gasoline engines, coupled to an automatic eight-speed transmission with either rear wheel drive or Q4 all-wheel-drive.

The more powerful of these V6 units is installed in the Ghibli S: this develops 404 SAE HP at 5,500 rpm and delivers 406 lb-ft of torque from only 1,750 rpm. This unit is found on the Ghibli S Q4 with all-wheel-drive.

The Ghibli S Q4 with all-wheel-drive accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in just 4.7 seconds, while the S version with rear wheel drive takes just 0.2 seconds more. The Ghibli S Q4 has an indicated top speed of 175 mph.

Thanks to an impressive 345 HP of power and 369 lb-ft of torque, the Ghibli’s second 3.0 litre V6 turbo gasoline engine option also delivers 0 to 60 mph acceleration in just 5.5 seconds.
Both engine options are equipped with parallel turbochargers and have been developed by Maserati Powertrain in collaboration with Ferrari Powertrain: both are produced by Ferrari in Maranello.

The Ghibli’s V6 gasoline engines share much of the technology found in the 3.8 litre V8 power unit of the Quattroporte, including direct fuel injection from a 200 bar injection system, two parallel, low inertia turbochargers and four continuous phase variators, one for each camshaft.
This advanced technology enables the V6 engine of the Ghibli S, which redlines at 6,500 rpm, to put out 90 percent of its torque under 1,500 rpm.

All the Ghibli versions are equipped with an automatic eight-speed transmission, which allows for maximum comfort and shift speed to guarantee top performance levels.

The Ghibli’s superb handling is the result of a combination of near perfect weight balance, double-wishbone front suspension, and multi-link rear suspension, that can provide great driving pleasure and safety under any road condition.

Like the Quattroporte, its bodyshell is built around a rigid and extremely secure steel safety cell that employs an array of different steel and aluminium alloys to deliver precise strengths and minimal weight.

The front section of the bodyshell is obtained from an aluminium casting with reinforced cross-strut that delivers outstanding rigidity in all directions. The rear section is made from rolled steel.
Ghibli is the only car in its category to offer as a standard a limited slip differential to provide better grip in all driving conditions.

The Ghibli’s wheelbase of 118″ is about 8 inches shorter than the Quattroporte. Overall length is 195.7 inches, 11 inches shorter than the new Quattroporte.

The Ghibli S is equipped with 360 mm x 32 mm dual cast, ventilated and drilled brake discs at the front and 350 mm x 28 mm ventilated discs at the rear. The front wheels feature Brembo six-piston fixed calipers while the rear wheels are fitted with four-piston calipers. Stopping distance from 100 km/h to zero is only 36 metres.

The standard Ghibli is fitted with 18″ wheels and tires while the Ghibli S variants have 18″ wheels with tires of different widths at the front and rear. 19″, 20″ and 21″ wheels are available as options. Like the Quattroporte, the Ghibli too can be equipped with a Bowers & Wilkins high end premium audio system, one of the finest hi-fi systems in the automotive sector.

The choice of system components, the positioning of the 15 speakers, the perfect configuration of the Harman QuantumLogic™ Surround Sound processor and the effective integration of the whole system are the result of long and exhaustive testing and endless hours of listening by the audio industry’s top engineers. The system perfectly reproduces every nuance of sound with the highest levels of dynamic purity and realism, and delivers a completely new level of music enjoyment on the road.

The key characteristics of the Bowers & Wilkins premium audio system are:

15 speakers
5 x 25 mm aluminium dome tweeters
5 x 100 mm Kevlar midrange units
2 x 165 mm Kevlar midrange/woofers
2 x 165 mm Rohacell woofers
1x 350 x 200 mm subwoofer
16-channel D-class amplifier with total output of 1280 W QuantumLogic ™Surround Sound processing system