Reference Auto

Italian luxury sports car maker Maserati, which hasn’t really hogged the limelight in India like its peers Ferrari or Lamborghini for that matter, has rolled out its premium sports cars that are slated to carry a price tag of between Rs 1.20 crore and Rs 1.43 crore (ex-showroom, New Delhi) for models such as the Quattroporte flag-ship sedan, the GranTurismo coupe and the GranCabrio convertible.

The flagship model christened the Quattroporte will carry a price tag of Rs 1.23-1.43 crore, while the GranTurismo will be priced between Rs 1.20 crore and Rs 1.37 crore and the GranCabrio will come for Rs 1.43 crore.

The company has made Mumbai’s Shreyans Group the official importer of its cars into the country.

Deliveries of the first set of cars are likely to begin around July-August.

“We have driven in our entire range of cars to cater to the fast-growing Indian super luxury car market that doubled to nearly 700 cars last year. We are confident to log substantial sales and hope to ride the robust demand for such luxury cars,” Maserati Asia-Pacific managing director Simone Niccolai said.

Maserati will launch its first showroom in Mumbai in the latter part of this year while the second dealership will come up in Delhi some time next year.

Maserati is owned by the Fiat Group and sold 5,675 cars globally last year and has set a humble sales target of 100 cars in India for the next three years.

“We have waited for years to foray into India and have seen the exciting growth for automobiles in the country’s market. Now, we have decided to launch the Maserati brand. Deliveries will begin in July-August this year but we are yet to have any enquiries from potential customers till now,” he said.

The company is of the opinion that the Quattroporte will account for the highest sales in the country. India will be the 63rd market for Maserati in the world.

Going by the initial response, it is unlikely that the Indian customer will shun the Rolls Royce, Bentley or for that matter the Lamborghini or the Ferrari to opt for a Maserati at almost identical prices.

Last year, Maserati logged €586 million in revenues, a rise of 30.8% over the previous year, that is, 2009, mainly on account of sales of the three models, which the company is bringing to India.

Maserati’s global sales of over 5,000 cars last year (which is a growth of 18%) is impressive considering the car major does not have brand presence like the Ferrari or Lamborghini.

China is the biggest market for Maserati in the Asia-Pacific region, and last year, the company’s sales in the country stood at 402 cars. Probably, Maserati is banking on this factor to drive sales in neighbouring India.

But the India story could be somewhat different and even the company seems to have taken a realistic view of its prospects while unveiling its sales forecast for the country. If Maserati wants to scale up its presence in the swirling luxury cars market in India, it will have to spend heavily on advertising and promotion and rev up dealerships or else the road ahead could be a bumpy one.