Maserati Kuba SUV Design Study

SUV's are a category that many of the sports, luxury and supercar manufacturers have pondered entering over the past few years. With the (quite lengthy) craze over, Porsche was really the only one to dare enter the segment - and much to the chagrin of brand purists.

Bentley was rumored to have considered it, as well as Aston Martin (instead opting to produce the Lagonda) and Maserati. Maserati even went as far as to show a concept, called the Kubang GT Wagon, which never made it to production. Designer Andrey Trofimchuk Simeonych is now offering his interpretation of what a Maserati SUV could be like.

Behold - the Kuba! Normally, the virtual world of designing produces handsomely designed vehicles that go beyond what the manufacturers do normally. In this instance, the Kuba definitely does do that, but to questionable results. The Kuba is odd - with no connection to any Maserati design cues. It strikes me as Citroen-like in it's surfacing and shapes.

What is pretty remarkable though is the execution of this design - it is flawless. It looks like an actual vehicle, in real life settings. So while the Kuba doesn't strike me as something Maserati should build, I look forward to seeing some more work by it's designer Andrey Trofimchuk Simeonych. More images are available at CarDesign.Ru.