Maserati Levante – portfolio news
Shortly after Maserati introduced its concept car Kubang in 2011 at the Frankfurt Motor Show, rumours about the production version of the car have begun to circulate. It didn’t take long for Maserati to confirm its first SUV, symbolically named Levante. The name comes from the street Via Emilia Levante in Bologne where about one hundred years ago the Maserati brothers dreamt about the company that still wears their name.
For Maserati this year has been marked with Levante that will be introduced at Geneva Motor Show. In that way Maserati enters competitive, but profitable luxury SUV market. Air ducts for the first Maserati SUV will be produced namely at AD Plastik’s factories. After a successful development project on grab handles with FCA Group, this time AD Plastik has a role of development partner on the luxury Levante air duct project.
„Above all, mentioned projects mean an increase in realization, that is revenue increase for AD Plastik. Cooperation with Maserati opens up a new business area because, apart from the fact that this is our first joint development project, Levante belongs to the luxury car category with which we haven’t cooperated often so far. This is a proof that we have the knowledge, capacity and the required quality to meet the challenges of the most demanding customers and models in the automotive market,“ said Marinko Došen, President of AD Plastik’s Management Board.
The story with Levante began in the fall of 2014 when request for quotation from Maserati was received and shortly after a cooperation was realized. At the customer’s request, AD Plastik’s constructor Uroš Pavlović last year briefly joined the Maserati’s fluid mechanics experts in Modena. Front air ducts were jointly modeled there with a total of nine components. AD Plastik was responsible for production of air ducts which conduct air for heating/cooling passenger compartment from instrument panel to the rear part of the vehicle. This refers to seven components that will be produced at the Mladenovac factory using blow moulding technology and five injection moulded components that will be produced in Solin. The project is in the final phase, customer’s audits have recently been successfully finished at both factories and start of serial production is planned at the end of February.
A great business opportunity is ahead of Maserati and another more gorgeous SUV – luxury Levante awaits all car nuts.
