News: Maserati Ghibli Ermenegildo Zegna Edition goes massive on luxury

IT’S CERTAINLY more of a mouthful than “SE”. The Ghibli Ermenegildo Zegna Edition is the name of Maserati’s latest twist on its BMW 5-series rival. The concept was the highlight of the Italian car maker’s Paris show stand.

In keeping with the aspirational brand, which has its sights on achieving 50,000 sales a year worldwide compared with historic levels of around 6,000, the car, created in association with Italian fashion house Ermenegildo Zegna, purrs with luxury finishes and materials.

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Not for this Ghibli, a quick turn in the paint shop. The concept has three layers of the stuff for a specially deep and lustrous finish. Thanks to the paint’s aluminium pigment, and depending on the viewer’s perspective, the colour changes from blue to ash grey. Arch-filling 20in alloy wheels, finished in so-called Liquid Metal, complete the look.

But it is inside the concept that Ermenegildo Zegna’s designers have really got down to work. A combination of leather and Zegna’s specially created pure silk fabric clothe the seats, and many of the surfaces.

Those areas that escape it, including the headlining, top pillars and sun shades, are finished in Zegna silk jersey embellished with ton-sur-ton (matching colours) ornamental stitching. Maserati logos and decorative inserts in glossy carbon fibre, applied to the central tunnel and door panels, provide a final flourish.

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