Maserati News
4Car test drives the Quattroporte Sport GT
Mar 30th
” You look at this car, you drive it, you want it. There’s a Deadly Sin in there somewhere. “
BusinessWeek interview with James Selwa
Mar 28th
James Selwa, the Maserati North America CEO was recently interviewed by Marty Bernstein of BusinessWeek for an in depth article on the companies future direction.
Here is an exerpt:
” The biggest challenge is making sure you don’t push the volume too high and broaden the product range too far down market. Look what happened to Jaguar and the X type. People that pay over $100,000 want exclusivity. BMW and Mercedes are becoming mainstream brands. A low end 7 series looks just like a 760 that you pay $100,000 for to the untrained eye. The Quattroporte has established the price point, differentiators and class leading qualities. Our main challenge is to attract the right clients and make them happy.”
See the full article here: http://www.businessweek.com/autos/content/mar2006/bw20060315_824992.htm
Video: Schumacher drives a Spyder
Mar 26th
Ever wondered what Michael Schumacher, Ferrari’s legendary F1 driver would say while driving a Maserati Spyder?
” The gearbox does very well in this one, almost better than the Ferrari”
“The engine is quite powerful, quite strong”
“Is very good handling, honestly, and the power still continues, is very nice engine”
Watch the video here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=WhcCf3tLOks
Quattroporte Beats M5
Mar 17th
2006 Quattroporte Sport GT wallpaper for your computer
Maserati’s 4.2 liter V8 Quattroporte is faster than BMWs 5.0 liter V10 M5. The Quattroporte is quicker around a track than BMWs best sports sedan. Britain’s evo magazine proved this conclusively on its Bedford Autodrome test circuit, which the Quattroporte lapped in considerably less time, being far the fastest four door, and the fastest real four seat car yet tested. The Quattroporte’s advantage is most devastating in the corners, where it bested the M5, and a number of current Porsches, Mercedes’, Bentleys and others, by a wide margin. This is, of course, the mark of accessible speed and real world performance; evo noted that the Quattroporte is in a completely superior class for luxury, as well.
Upping the Ante
Mar 17th
From Maserati monthly;
This is the new Sport GT, the edgier Quattroporte for those who want even more performance from the sports sedan that evo says “redefines big car handling”. evo blasted a Quattroporte around their test track in less time than the V10 BMW M5, proving the Maserati is the fastest real world sports sedan available. The new Quattroporte Sport GT ups the ante with even better handling and a brilliantly engineered concentration on usable performance.
Announcing the GranSport MC Victory!
Feb 16th
2/15/06 – To celebrate winning the 2005 FIA GT Manufacturers’ Cup, Maserati has launched a new limited edition model of the GranSport.
The Maserati GranSport MC Victory will be officially launched at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show, and will be on the market from May, with only 180 uniquely numbered units produced.
As well as boasting finer standard equipment than the Maserati GranSport from which it derives, the new Maserati GranSport MC Victory offers a variety of new features that clearly link it to the Maserati MC12, celebrating its driving dynamics.
Externally, the Maserati GranSport MC Victory is immediately recognizable for its aerodynamic, blue carbon front and rear spoilers and for the Italian flag embedded in the side panels, another feature taken from the MC12.
2005: A look back at Maserati’s victorious return to racing.
Feb 3rd
With a couple of months until the 2006 racing season starts, here is a look back at 2005, a major year in the history of Maserati racing.
For 2005, two customer teams each raced MC12 cars in the full FIA GT Championship; the German team, Vitaphone Racing, ran two cars in their distinctive black and green livery, while Monaco-based JMB Racing also had two cars, in dark blue. The races were designed to be a true test of man and machinery; most races were three hours in length, with a 24-hour race thrown in at mid-season.
Right from the beginning of the season, at the historic Monza circuit in Italy, the MC12 proved itself the perfect car for the series. It claimed four of the top five places in the season opener, and followed that up with a clean sweep of the podium at Magny-Cours, in France, three weeks later. These two races set the pattern for the season; the MC12 was fast and consistent, and at least one Maserati finished on the podium at each of the eleven races.
In their first ‘official’ season of competition since 1957, Maserati took the Manufacturers’ Cup, and Vitaphone claimed the Teams’ Championship from JMB – in both competitions, Maserati racked up more points than the rest of the competitors combined. The MC12 took four wins, eight second places and six thirds – eighteen podium finishes from 44 starts, a remarkable rate of success.
Five more international awards for the Maserati Quattroporte
Feb 3rd
” Important recognition also came from France and the respected Automobile Magazine. The publication elected the Quattroporte the “Best Car” in the luxury berlina category in its 26 January edition. As Stephane Meunier, editor of the French monthly, pointed out, the Trident vehicle is the only car to have received this award of three consecutive occasions. This is testimony to the extent to which the Quattroporte is valued by the French public.
To conclude, the Quattroporte was voted the “Best Car 2006″ in the “Luxury” class by the Swiss magazine, Auto Illustrierte. The Modenese model took the prize for the second successive time and attracted 25% of the votes polled. This was almost 10% more than its nearest rival.
Since its international launch in September 2003, the Maserati Quattroporte has received 27 international awards.”
Hipsteronomics
Feb 1st
From this month’s Mpls St Paul Magazine:
They have a great article this month profiling what’s hip and what’s not. Dozens of the twin citie’s tastemakers were polled so who are we to argue with their results?
(on newstands now!)
Latest Maserati News
Feb 1st
From the Detroit International Autoshow:
“Former boxer and current CEO of Maserati, Karl Heinz Kalbfell, President of Maserati North America, James Selwa, and Maserati PR chief Luca Dal Monte each took a turn describing the Trident’s snowballing success: a 92% increase in cars delivered during 2005 to North American buyers, for a total of over 2000…”
From the latest Robb Report:
“The sound throughout the rev range is worth the price of admission – especially when the car is in Sport mode, when freer-flowing exhaust and quicker shift mapping add layers to the motor’s music. One would not be insane to buy this vehicle for the exhaust note alone…”
Perhaps the ultimate accolade is that the CEO of CurtCo Robb Media owns a 90th Anniversary Spyder, while its Senior VP and Creative Director traded his Porsche for a GranSport!
“The sound throughout the rev range is worth the price of admission – especially when the car is in Sport mode, when freer-flowing exhaust and quicker shift mapping add layers to the motor’s music. One would not be insane to buy this vehicle for the exhaust note alone…”
Perhaps the ultimate accolade is that the CEO of CurtCo Robb Media owns a 90th Anniversary Spyder, while its Senior VP and Creative Director traded his Porsche for a GranSport!
From Maserati Monthly; Owner Profile: Dan Hammond
“A quiet and thoughtful man, Dan lives in Dallas, Texas. He is recently retired at the age of 53 from his position as founder, Chairman, and CEO of Intervoice, the leader and an originator in voice recognition telephony systems.”
“Dan Hammond grew tired of driving the same car as everyone else, so he went looking for something different – and within minutes of getting into the 2005 Maserati GranSport, he knew he had found it: “you start to drive it and feel the g-forces, even accelerating from 0 to 40 – all of a sudden I feel like I’m driving something besides a car, it feels like a race car.”
