Maserati wants its very first electric model to stand out from the competition

Porsche, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi are among the companies planning on grabbing a slice of Tesla’s lucrative market share in the coming years. Maserati knows that it will be one of the last entrants in the electric vehicle segment, so it’s taking a completely different approach in a bid to stand out from its rivals.

“We will be last (with a production EV), and we have to arrive to the market with something different. Very different,” explained Roberto Fedeli, the company’s engineering boss, in an interview with Car and Driver on the sidelines of the Paris Auto Show.

Fedeli shed a little bit of insight into what we can expect from Maserati’s first battery-powered car, and how it will differ from the Tesla Model S. Notably, the model will likely arrive as a coupe instead of a sedan. Maserati isn’t out to chase volume and set sales records, and it’s never manifested an interest in bringing mobility of any kind to the masses.

There’s another reason why Maserati won’t simply copy Tesla.

“The execution and quality of the products of Tesla are the same as a German OEM in the 1970s. Their solutions are not the best,” opined Fedeli, who joined Maserati from BMW’s i sub-brand.

Maserati needs to start from scratch because the only electric model offered by parent company Fiat-Chrysler is the tiny Fiat 500e, a so-called compliance car only sold in a small handful of states. Developing the electric tech needed to power an electric coupe is a time-consuming process, so buyers looking to put a completely silent Maserati in their driveway will need to patiently wait until at least 2020.