AFTER 10 years of restructuring, Maserati will finally be profitable by the end of this year and the Italian sports car maker's next goal is to be able to self-finance new product development over the next decade.

And throughout all this, Roberto Ronchi, chief executive and managing director of Maserati SpA, says the brand with the trident badge will seek to preserve the exclusivity of its cars.

Mr Ronchi was in Singapore for the official opening last month of the new Maserati showroom at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel and the launch of the new Maserati coupe, the GranTurismo. He says the company, which sold 5,700 cars around the world last year, will see a substantial jump in sales volume this year to somewhere in the mid-7,000 level.

'Asia accounts for 12 per cent of total sales,' says Mr Ronchi, 'and China is booming, growing 100 per cent, which is a doubling of sales.'

For now though, Japan is Asia's biggest market and with 600 cars registered, it is the overall No 3 market. It too is expected to grow some more. Currently, Maserati's top market is the US, followed by Italy. But Mr Ronchi says Japan will be the second biggest next year. 'We are growing because of the positioning of the brand. We carved out an area with a good balance between performance, comfort and exclusivity,' he explains, adding that the craftsmanship of the car, and the customisation possibilities - there are four million combinations of the Maserati Quattroporte available - are also contributing factors.

Key to burgeoning sales is the automatic version of the Quattroporte luxury limousine. The big 4.2-litre V8 saloon was launched in 2004 with a sporty clutchless manual electro-hydraulic transmission. But the carmaker began offering a smoother automatic gearbox earlier this year and it has been a huge success, accounting for 80 per cent of total sales.

More importantly, over 80 per cent of those who bought the automatic are first-time Maserati buyers, Mr Ronchi reveals. 'So we are attracting new customers. The Cambiocorsa (electro-hydraulic transmission) is still the best to express sportiness, but the true business is done with the automatic.'

Maserati's main competitors are other luxury brands like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Jaguar, some Bentley models and some Aston Martin.

'There will be no smaller car and we don't want to compete in exotics like Ferrari and Lamborghini.'

Instead, Maserati will stay in the luxury business with two main goals. The first is to achieve an annual production volume of 10,000 cars in order to be significantly profitable. The next step is to hit 14,000 to 15,000 units - 'around the maximum production Maserati can do'.

'Then, we will not only be profitable but we can be self-financing for our new product development.'

Since 1997, Maserati has relied financially on Fiat and Fiat-owned Ferrari. 'We have invested a lot in the level of quality,' says Mr Ronchi. 'We are close to the Germans and it is just a matter of time before we reach them. Beyond the beauty of the car, you see, there is a lot of engineering thinking behind it. That's the difference between us and other brands.'

Another part of Maserati's philosophy is to beef up customer service based on a one-to-one relationship.

'In terms of product, we want to be like the Germans. In terms of service, we want to be like Lexus.'