Maserati, the luxury sports car builder, plans to introduce a diesel engine option for the first time in its 2014 model series, and the new 3.0-liter V6 will be cast in compacted graphite iron using the SinterCast AB process. Tupy, a SinterCast licensee, will produce the cylinder blocks and bedplates at its foundry in Joinville, Brazil.
The Maserati Ghibli is a revival of one of the automaker’s legacy series, this time as a four-door sports sedan. It will be the first diesel engine offering in Maserati’s 99-year history.
It also represents another marketshare gain for compacted graphite iron’s progress. Diesel engine options have been offered in CGI for several model years, and recently more gas engines have been added to the list of applications.
CGI is a lightweight alternative to gray iron and aluminum for automotive component manufacturing, and Stockholm-based SinterCast is the largest supplier of process control technology for producing compacted graphite iron.
The package SinterCast developed (now in its third generation) is under license to numerous automakers and automotive foundries worldwide, and is used to cast more than 50 different components in series production.
Maserati’s new engine design is based on a VM Motori diesel engine, developed jointly by Maserati and Ferrari (both are Fiat Auto business units.)
VM Motori is a Fiat/General Motors joint venture that manufactures diesel engines, and has four other products in production with SinterCast CGI castings. The Maserati engines will be assembled at the Ferrari engine plant in Maranello, Italy.
The 2014 Ghibli Sports Sedan will be available in showrooms later this summer. Its custom-built engine delivers 202 kW (275 horsepower), 570 Nm (420 ft-lb.) of torque, and a top speed of 250 km/hr (155 mph.) Even so, reports indicate it has a fuel-efficiency rating of more than 39 mpg (less than six liters of fuel consumed per 100 kilometers, SinterCast reported) in the combined driving cycle.
"The application of the 3.0 liter diesel to the top-end sports sedan sector demonstrates the versatility of the VM Motori base design, and showcases the advantages of the higher strength and stiffness of CGI in providing a full spectrum of performance, durability and refinement," stated SinterCast president and CEO Steve Dawson.
"The availability of the VM Motori engine in five diverse vehicles, ranging from off-road jeep and pick-up applications to full size sedans and luxury sport vehicles, provides another powerful example of the design benefits of compacted graphite iron," he concluded.