X5

Make
BMW
Segment
SUV

Maserati is one of the more tragic stories in the world of automakers. The venerable old company was once a seriously powerful force in the world of motorsport, its name a byword for performance top-level engineering. But that was all a very long time ago, and since being completely overshadowed by other, newer Italian brands, Maserati was passed around to different owners in an attempt to make it into something which would actually return a profit.

Even though Maserati posted a loss of €700 million last year, this year has been turning out quite a bit better already. In fact, the 17,000 orders received in the first seven months of this year have been more than triple the number received all of last year. About half of that number has come from the new Quattroporte, and understandably so. Sales are expected to take another big jump sometime next year with the debut of the Levante SUV. Fiat Group CEO Sergio Marchionne's stated goal of 50,000 annual sales for the trident no longer seems like such an impossible goal.