Carmudgeon returns! After a short break, Jason and Derek have returned to discuss the past, present, and future of Maserati- and at the end of the day, should they even exist at all in the current car market? There’s no doubt that the legacy Italian brand has taken a new shape molded by mass-market modern consumer tastes, influencing the birth of the Ghibli, Levante, and MC20. With V6 powertrains across the board, Jason and Derek, Maserati may have lost its’ way, lacking the character of even the late Quattroporte V’s ferocious, snarling V8. Without the direction it once had, will Maserati ever find its way in a market biased by EVs and SUVs?

In highlighting brand identities, Jason and Derek naturally land on the discussion of the SUV’s existence overall. Jason remarks on recent seat time in the Porsche Cayenne Coupe GTS, a vehicle which has become exceptionally dynamic to drive and whose existence allowed Porsche to continue making sports cars after flirting with bankruptcy. But a world of great SUVs, will the general consumer ever return to form and downsize back to smaller and lighter offerings?

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