Maserati, the Italian maker of exotic cars driven by the likes of U2 frontman Bono and designer Ralph Lauren, is shifting its focus from the elite to the merely wealthy with a mid-sized sedan called the Ghibli.

The new car, which will start at $65,600 when it hits U.S. showrooms in September, represents a direct challenge to mainstay German models like the BMW 5-Series, Mercedes-Benz E-Class and Audi A6. The Fiat SpA unit is betting the car can offer something the Germans can’t: Italian sex appeal backed by the power and cachet of engines from sister brand Ferrari.

“We have to steal buyers from the Germans,” said Benedetto Orvietani, a product development manager at Maserati. “We are going after their most demanding customers, the ones that are bored of their Audi A6 and want to stand out.”

The Ghibli ― a 1960s-era model name stemming from an Arabic word for a hot wind from the Sahara ― is a critical part of Maserati’s plan to boost sales eightfold to 50,000 vehicles by 2015. While that wouldn’t be much for the Germans, which each sell more than 1 million cars a year, it marks a threat because Maserati is targeting buyers of the most expensive, highest-horsepower vehicles.

“We are not far from the truth if we call our plan the Maserati revolution,” said brand chief Harald Wester, a German engineer who worked at Volkswagen AG and Audi before taking charge of development at Fiat in 2004. German rivals “are limited in how well they can satisfy customers’ desire to be different.” 

(Bloomberg)