Chinese luxury car rebadged as Maserati to compete with Rolls-Royce

For several hours, a rumor from China has been stirring the automotive media. According to several Chinese media, subsequently relayed by several European media, including the Italian financial daily Milano Finanza, Stellantis is reportedly in talks with Huawei and JAC Motors to develop a future luxury electric car with the badge Maserati.

On paper, the principle is simple: Huawei would supply the software technologies, intelligent systems and digital architecture, JAC would take care of industrial development and production, while Maserati would contribute its design and brand image. In China, the model would be sold under the Maextro label, the premium brand created by Huawei and JAC. Internationally, it would adopt the famous Trident name.

A sort of “Chinese Maserati”, developed from a local technical base, designed to compete with luxury benchmarks such as Rolls-Royce, Mercedes-Maybach and China's new top-of-the-range electric sedans. On paper, the idea may seem credible. In reality, it raises a lot of questions.

Can Maserati really become a 100 % electric brand?

For several years now, Maserati has been trying to convince with its Folgore range. But commercial results have fallen far short of its stated ambitions. The Italian brand has certainly succeeded in launching electric versions of the Grecale, GranTurismo and GranCabrio, but these models struggle to win over customers.

The problem goes far beyond range or performance. You don't buy a Maserati just for its technical specifications. It's bought for the mechanical emotion, the sound, the character, the almost theatrical experience that Italian combustion engines have always been able to offer. It's an art of living.

However, until now, the Maserati badge associated with the 100 % electric has never really found its audience. Yet the cars aren't bad. Just ask anyone who's tried a Folgore Granturismo or Folgore Grancabrio. These are good luxury electric cars! But the figures speak for themselves: the brand's sales have plummeted in recent years, from around 27,000 units in 2023 to less than 8,000 cars in 2025. It's a marketing problem. So to imagine a future Maserati based on a Chinese platform and solely electric may seem contradictory to the brand's very DNA.

A Chinese platform in a future Maserati?

This is probably the most surprising aspect of this rumour. For years, Maserati's entire future has been based on the Giorgio platform and its evolutions. This architecture, originally developed for Alfa Romeo, remains one of the Stellantis group's best platforms. It symbolizes a certain idea of Italian sportiness.

So it's hard to imagine a coherent future range where some Maseratis use a “made in Italy” Giorgio platform, while another model is based on a Chinese architecture designed primarily for connected electric vehicles. Of course, the automotive industry is changing fast. Audi is already developing electric models in China specifically for the local market. Volkswagen is also multiplying its technological partnerships with Chinese manufacturers to remain competitive. Even Stellantis has already invested heavily in Leapmotor.

But Maserati is not a generalist brand.

Would a Maserati designed in China still be a Maserati?

Basically, the real issue is not technology. It's cultural. Just a few days ago, Cristiano Fiorio, CMO of Maserati, reminded us what the Trident represents today:

“The Trident and Maserati represent not only an automotive symbol, but also a cultural one.”

Important words. For Maserati sells above all a history, an Italian identity, an imagination combining Modena, motor sport, luxury and a certain mechanical passion. Given this logic, many will find it hard to see how a car developed in China, designed with Chinese partners and derived from a Maextro model could become the “cultural symbol” referred to by Maserati management.

This is not to say that the project is necessarily a bad one. Chinese automakers are now well versed in the production of technologically advanced electric cars. Some of them already rival the best European references in terms of software, comfort and even performance.

But a good car doesn't automatically become a true Maserati. The risk would be to turn the Trident into a mere marketing badge for a product developed primarily to meet the expectations of the Chinese market.

A strategy ultimately reserved for China?

This is probably the most credible scenario. China remains a fundamental market for automotive luxury, even if Maserati has all but disappeared there in recent years. In 2017, the brand sold almost 15,000 cars there every year. Today, registrations are said to have fallen to around 1,000 units.

Using a Chinese technology base to offer a Maserati designed specifically for Chinese customers might make a certain amount of economic sense. After all, local buyers now place enormous emphasis on software, intelligent assistants, displays and in-car technologies, areas in which China has a considerable lead.

If this project really comes to fruition, it could therefore resemble a local strategy comparable to Audi's in China, rather than a global revolution in the Maserati range. From our point of view, a Chinese Maserati marketed in Europe is hard to believe.