Maserati shows off all-wheel drive at ski resorts

Italian automaker Maserati, hoping to expand its appeal in the U.S. and avoid an image as a fair-weather machine, is setting up displays in ski resorts that give the well-heeled habitues a chance to pilot a Maserati with all-wheel drive.

Aspen and Snowmass in Color., Feb. 8 - March 12, are getting the automaker's big push.

You sign up and and head out for 20 or 30 minutes driving a Maserati Ghibli S Q4 or Quattroporte S Q4. You have to take along a Maserati representative who is there to be sure you understand all the feature -- certainly not to moderate your driving; heavens no.

And the rep will guide you to a particularly snowy patch of road where you can get on the gas and feel the AWD -- Q4 -- system work.

Upon your return, you can relax at an apres ski setup in a luxury hotel.

The hope, of course, is that you'll become a customer. But the larger idea is to make sure you don't get the notion that Maseratis are useful only when the sun's shining.

BMW had a bad snow rep some years ago and it's taken a very long time, and numerous AWD models, to dampen that criticism.

OK to sign up at the site, or ahead of time at www.maseratiaspen.com