Maserati: Hybrids the solution to meet emission targets

Maserati says it will embrace plug-in hybrid technology as a solution to help it meet strict average emission targets by 2020.

Speaking to British car mag Autocar, Maserati’s European general manager, Giulio Pastore, confirmed that the Italian sports car-maker would commit to a plug-in hybrid future.

"We have to do it -- it’s that simple. In some countries where it is highly incentivised, they will be a success, in others maybe less so, but there is government and customer demand for such cars," he said.

Pastore said that the new hybrids would not trade any performance for lower emissions.

According to Autocar, the Quattroporte, GranTurismo, GranCabrio and Ghibli and the forthcoming Levante will all be offered with plug-in hybrid powertrains to meet the average emission targets.

The only exception will be the all-new Alfieri coupe that’s due in 2018.

While other brands like Aston Martin are readying pure-electric versions of existing or future models, Maserati has reportedly abandoned the zero-emission technology after the Italian car-maker’s boss, Harald Wester, called EVs “nonsense” in an interview back in 2013.

Back then Wester argued that producing, powering and disposing of electric cars resulted in more CO2 produced than cars powered by internal combustion engines.

Wester also called for a “more honest” way of calculating a car’s emissions.