[2] Its steel body, characterized by a low, shark-shaped nose, was designed by a young Giorgetto Giugiaro, then working at Ghia.

The car featured pop-up headlamps, leather front sport seats, alloy wheels and 205R15 Pirelli Cinturato N72 tyres.

Two rear seats consisting of nothing more than a cushion without a backrest were added to the production model, allowing the Ghibli to be marketed as a 2-door 2+2 fastback coupé.

Front suspension used double wishbone type, coaxial dampers and coil springs, and an anti-roll bar.

At the rear there was a live axle on semi-elliptic springs, with a single longitudinal torque arm, hydraulic dampers and an anti-roll bar.

The coupé was built for luxury as well as performance, and its interior featured Connolly leather upholstery and burr elm trim.

[10] A refreshed interior, new wing mirrors, wider and larger 17-inch alloy wheels of a new design, fully adjustable electronic suspension and ABS brakes were added.

[13][14] At the time the Ghibli Cup had the highest ever specific power output of any street legal car at 163.0 hp; 121.6 kW (165.3 PS) per litre, surpassing the Bugatti EB110 and Jaguar XJ220.

The sporty theme continued in the Cup's cabin with black leather, carbon fibre trim, aluminium pedals and a MOMO steering wheel.

On 4 November 1996 on the Lake Lugano, Guido Cappellini broke the flying kilometre's World Speed Record on water in the 5-litre class, piloting a composite-hulled speedboat powered by the biturbo V6 from the Ghibli Cup and belonging to Bruno Abbate's Primatist/Special Team.

[15][16] To celebrate the world record Maserati made 60 special edition Ghiblis called the Ghibli Primatist, featuring special Ultramarine blue paintwork and an interior trimmed in two-tone blue/turquoise leather and polished burr walnut trim.

They were based on the two-litre model, with their tipo AM 577 engines tuned to 320 PS (235 kW; 316 hp)[18] by using roller-bearing turbochargers, a freer-flowing exhaust, and remapped fuel computers; a roll cage, Sparco racing seats, a Momo racing steering wheel, aluminium shifter knob and pedals, 5-point belts, automatic fire extinguishing system, an aluminium sump guard, carbon fibre air-intakes, a modified fuel system and 17-inch 5-spoke Speedline wheels completed the outfitting.

Suspension was of the MacPherson strut type at the front and semi-trailing arms at the rear, with coil springs, double-acting dampers and anti-roll bars on both axles.

At the rear axle there was Maserati's "Ranger" Torsen limited slip differential from the Biturbo, with an added oil cooler.