I think that Maserati have lost their way in terms of not really understanding their brand values and the car market in general. I don't think they've really thought this through adequately and it seems that their new direction is more a knee jerk reaction than something that has been analyzed and planned properly.
It's almost as if Sergio woke up one morning and thought: "I know, let's take on the Germans." Well that's a good plan, but very, very difficult to implement. VW (*hack, cough, cough*) had the same epiphany forty years ago to take on Mercedes with Audi and they're only sort of getting it right now. But still, no matter how good Audi is, nor how good its quality might be, nor how innovative Audi might be, in spite of all the marketing and racing successes, Audi is still perceived to be a second cousin to Mercedes-Benz, and this is exactly what Maserati have yet to discover.
The Italians might think that a Maserati is a family Ferrari. They might think and blindly play on a glorious, if chequered history. (It probably started to die soon after Fangio won the world championship in a 250F. Shall I mention the Citroen years?). But here's the rub, chaps - the rest of the world doesn't. Certainly not the Americans, who are so un-brand conscious that unknown brands picked out of a Japanese hat box have become unprecedented best sellers. Infiniwhat?? Maserati don't get the fact that Chuck will deride his mate down at the country club for spending $80 000 on a basic Ghibli when his fully loaded Infiniwhat cost 25% less. To the average yank it's all about bang for your buck.
Maserati have blundered by thinking that they will win over 5-series and E-class customers merely because it's a Maserati. They think that the badge is the trump card, not the fact that the car should be everything as good and reliable, if not better, than a BMW or Mercedes.
Unfortunately for us car guys, a car company can only survive if it keeps giving the market what it wants, and that means all the godawful SUVs, hybrids and other banal electrical appliances. Car companies cannot survive making cars that car guys love, because car guys only make up the tiniest proportion of the car market. The rest of the market is made up of people who merely want to get from A to B. They have no interest whatsoever in cars and are more interested in the gadgets the car has to offer. Who would have thought a critical decision about buying a car would depend on whether it has WiFi connectivity or not? And if car guys were the target market, diesels would have remained in taxis in Berlin, and all this self-drive nonsense would have been killed. Hopefully while still in Sven's head.
Therefore the Ghibli and Levante are here to stay, Maserati will become more mainstream or even disappear, and the rest of us will cry into our pints remembering the good old days.