Maserati Confirms World Premiere for Shanghai Auto Show, Likely the New Ghibli Sports Sedan

Maserati just dropped an invitation to our email box concerning the world premiere of an unnamed new model at the 2013 Shanghai Auto Show in China later this month.

This is what the invitation says: “Our World Premiere: A truly exciting discovery awaits you: the worldwide presentation of our newest model. Be the first to experience a stunning car, which will leave you breathless, confirming both the incomparable heritage of Maserati as well as its extraordinary future.”

The shrouded car in the teaser picture is clearly a sedan model, and the only new four-door saloon we know that Maserati is preparing for launch this year is the Ghibli, a prototype of which we recently spied testing in Europe. Whether it will be the final model or a pre-production concept, remains to be seen.

The Ghibli will be Maserati’s 21st century attempt to gain a foothold in the upper levels of the popular executive sedan category aiming at the likes of the more powerful editions of the BMW 5-Series, Mercedes-Benz E-Class and Cadillac CTS, and possibly even the sportier looking BMW 6-Series Gran Coupe and Mercedes-Benz CLS models.

It will ride on a shortened version of the new Quattroporte’s platform measuring a somewhere around 4.8 to 4.9 meters long, and will likely be offered with a similar range of turbocharged V6 and V8 gasoline engines, and possibly a diesel unit as well in the near future.

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