Maserati Kubang – Wikipedia

The Maserati Kubang It is a concept of car designed by the Italian car manufacturer Maserati which has materialized with the presentation of two concepts ^[first] , one in 2003 designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro and one in 2011, designed by the Maserati internal style center. The vehicle, as per the Maserati tradition, bears the name of a wind, of the island of Java. In 2016 the definitive model, Levante (other wind) was presented.

In the early 2000s, from a collaboration between Maserati and Italdesign, a concept of car with hybrid characteristics that encloses very different identity, but perfectly integrated, was born from a collaboration between Maserati and the Italdesign. The Kubang concept is substantially the transposition of the “nature” of the Maserati cars, as such of the also Gran Turismo, in a new unpublished car body for the House of the Trident. The aim was therefore to create a car between a great tourism and an SUV, while never approaching this last class of vehicles. Over time, the thought linked to the change of change, the collaboration between the Modenese company and the Turin design studio ends and the conception of the vehicle also changes, getting closer to the modern large SUVs, widespread in the United States and in rapid expansion in the European market. Like the conception, even the type of platform on which the two concepts are based, changes radically, also based on the new availability after the acquisition by the Fiat group of Chrysler LLC. In less than 10 years, in fact, the situation of the Fiat group changes radically, thanks to the internal renovation and expansion strategies in the North American market. While the 2003 concept was based on the platform of a pure European Gran Turismo, the 2011 concept is based on the platform of a large American SUV: the Jeep Grand Cherokee. ^{[first] [2]}

The first concept is presented at the Detroit car show in 2003, it is a car between a great tourism and a station wagon whose car body is raised from the ground giving life to a crossover that strictly recalls a modern SUV. In reality, the center of gravity of the Kubang was lower than 100 mm than the average of the SUVs and was equipped with a distribution of the weights (48% to the front, 52% at the rear) more optimal for a great sport tourism than for one sport utility vehicle . The line resumes the stylistic setting and the stylistic features of the Maserati rebirth models, which in those years had allowed the Modena brand to bring the accounts back into surplus and to return to markets revealed key to their commercial strategies (such as the United States); The front, in particular, recalls an evolution of that of the coupe and spyder in production in those years, although more massive. The purpose of the car manufacturer was to enter an expanding market sector despite not distorting the image of the brand. Maserati was not the only one of the Fiat group companies to take this path; The same year, in fact, the Alfa Romeo also presents its own concept of sports SUVs: the Alfa Romeo Kamal. The Kubang GT Wagon incorporated into a single quality car both dynamic and habitability: fueled by a 390 HP V8 engine was equipped with unconventional architecture, especially in the interiors, which, also thanks to the craftsmanship that distinguishes the automotive manufacturer Italian, it could be four, five or even seven seats, and each configuration had very different characteristics from the other two. The car was designed for all -wheel drive and a 6 -speed automatic transmission, which made the latter’s guidelines mainly mainly on the North American market ^[3] . However, the vehicle has never had a productive outcome, but created a precedent in the range of the Modenese house which inevitably opened the latter to a completely new type of vehicle, which reappears, eight years later, with a second concept.

In 2011, a new interpretation of the “Kubang” concept was presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show. The development of this new concept loses all bonds with the Italdesign and part of the philosophy that enclosed the 2003 proposal. Instead, a relationship opens with an extra European reality: Detroit, not only on a technical but also conceptual level. The mechanical base on which the new concept is based: the platform of the Jeep Grand Cherokee, influences the more the conception of vehicle than for the dynamic skills of the Kubang itself. The new proposal of the Modena house, in fact, is more oriented towards the segment of the great luxury SUVs, with a more conventional and rational setting, much closer to a sedan than to a great tourism. From a dynamic and technical point of view, however, the car does not differ much from the fundamental characteristics of the trident cars; The redesign of the platform took place in Modena and the Italian car manufacturer declared that style, engines, suspensions, brakes (and everything that constitutes the platform in addition to the base) have been developed to give the Kubang a road behavior, performance and personalities of the brand. The engines were designed in Modena by the internal motor development center, under the responsibility of Paolo Martinelli and will be built in Maranello by Ferrari ^{[first] [4]} .

Style [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The concept designed by the internal style center, supervised by Lorenzo Ramaciotti, presents itself with a muscular but stringy line, with a car body aimed at internal habitability but characterized by a pavilion arranged in an extremely backward position towards the tail completely hiding the third volume e giving a line close to that of a great tourism. In fact, although the conception of the vehicle has changed and the 2011 Kubang has a more traditional form of the 2003 concept, the stylistic references and the proportions greatly resume the other cars of the trident. The triangle rear upright and the large grille are some of the classic styles of the brand, even the three-shed air intake above the front pass is present, although completely reinterpreted. Some stylistic elements, such as the side and the front optical groups, are subsequently taken up for general the lines of the new Quattroporte of 2013, the style is however taken up in turn by that of Granturismo. ^[5]