If you’re in the market for a luxury performance SUV, you would at one point consider the Cayenne. Now though, Maserati is set to offer you another option.

Sport utility vehicles today never seem to offer a great “sporty” experience – an uplifting driving pleasure and luxury atmosphere synonymous with high-end sports and luxury cars. And this is precisely what Maserati set out to do with its new sport luxury SUV concept that is being unveiled at the Frankfurt Auto Show today, the forerunner of the future Maserati range, creating at once discontinuity by entering a new segment, and continuity by maintaining the integrity of Maserati’s DNA.

First unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show in 2003, the concept shares a connection with Jeep, a sister brand.  However, Maserati does promise that the essence and all major system components its sport luxury SUV will unmistakably be Maserati: style, engine, suspensions, brakes, handling and performance. The company says that it will stick to the brand’s core values of sportiness, style, elegance, luxury, performance and craftsmanship.

The distinctive Maserati style that makes the Kubang immediately recognisable as a true Maserati has been created by the Maserati Style Center headed by Lorenzo Ramaciotti.

New-generation high-tech Maserati proprietary engines will be designed in Modena by Paolo Martinelli – Head of the Maserati Powertrain Department and for nearly 30 years at Ferrari, where he also served as engine chief of the Formula One racing team – and will be produced in Maranello by Ferrari.

An automatic  8-speed automatic transmission and specific performance settings such as suspensions, brakes, steering will be exclusively developed in Modena for the Maserati sport luxury SUV by the Maserati Product Development Department.

Until today Maserati has been producing sedans, coupes and two- or four-seater convertibles. Times have changed: Sportiness and luxury today don’t have just one definition. They can also take the form of a very dynamic looking and high performing sport luxury SUV.

So the next time you hear a Maserati coming your way, it might turn out to be not what you expect to see!