Could this one-off design study for a Maserati coupé become a production reality? Designed by newly relaunched Italian coachbuilder Carrozerria Touring Superleggera, the A8 GCS Berlinetta is currently just an idea but Maserati is currently considering adding a new small coupé to its line-up, to be priced between £50,000 and £60,000.More compact than the £78,605 Gran Turismo, the baby two-door would compete against lower-end Porsche 911s, pricier versions of the Mercedes CLK, Jaguar’s planned XE coupé and even the Nissan GT-R and BMW M3.Maserati sees a considerable gap between the top end of the Brera coupé range from sister company Alfa Romeo and the 4.2-litre V8 Gran Turismo. At one time there was talk of Maserati offering a ‘mini’ Quattroporte; this smaller saloon could share its core architecture and probably some drivetrains with the new Alfa 169 flagship. But insiders have concluded that the two models would excessively cannibalise one another’s sales.Maserati boss Roberto Ronchi said that the firm needs a third model to continue making a profit, which it is, if on a modest scale.An additional car would take Maserati’s production to around 15,000 units annually, about the maximum capacity of its Modena plant. Last year it made 7353 cars, a third more than during the previous 12 months, and this number should rise again in 2008 with growing sales of the Gran Turismo and the Quattroporte, and the limited-edition 8C that it is building for Alfa Romeo.
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