Maserati Kubang

" I decided that there was still something that could be done with the SUV concept. To me, they look more like off-roaders that have gradually been "civilized" rather than real automobiles. They’ve got a lot going for them, but for some reason they never seem to offer the kind of sublime driving pleasure and all-round, all-weathers and all-conditions safety that are two givens of other modern cars.

When Montezemolo talked to me about creating a whole new, ultra versatile Maserati, I decided we should do something that really pushed the envelope. We’d do a whole new take on the genuine Maserati GT that would make it perfect for sporty, dynamic modern drivers, and what we came up with was the GT Wagon concept.

So that’s how Kubang came to be. It all happened very fast. We didn’t have to research or review our ideas and concepts. There were no set parameters we had to keep in mind either. With the Kubang, we stretched the concept of the automobile as far as our imaginations would let us, without losing anything that would be expected from a thoroughbred GT.

I’m very happy with this design. As a constructor, Maserati has always been had its finger on the pulse of what drivers right across the board want and that has often seen it marry seemingly diverse features in a single car: just think of the way it combined the elegance and sophistication of Mistral and the 3500GT with obviously racing-inspired performance. And so I was thrilled that Maserati gave me the brief to open a whole new chapter in a cutting edge segment that has completely changed the face of our roads in the last few years. "