Compact utility models are all the rage right now, but Maserati CEO Harald Wester says a sub-Levante model isn’t in the cards. Instead, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Maserati’s parent company, will rely on the group’s other brands to fill the needs for smaller SUVs.
“We are an extremely complex multi-brand group and to have everyone doing a little bit of everything is not the right way,” Wester told Autocar. “We have nameplates that cover that ground, or that plan to cover that ground.”
He added: “In this business, you should never say ‘no’ in a dogmatic way, but my personal opinion is that Maserati wouldn’t want to go below the Levante in size.”
Alfa Romeo could fill the gap between FCA’s Jeep and Maserati with an up-scale small SUV of its own.
Despite the decision not to field an SUV in the red-hot compact ranks, Maserati still expects its sales to rise to 75,000 units on the back of the Levante SUV. Seemingly in the making for years, Maserati will formally unveil its first-ever utility model at the 2016 Detroit auto show.
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