Maserati GranCabrio MC
Suzanne Keane takes a look at the Maserati brand, past, present and future
The rumble of a Ferrari engine catches your attention before a gleaming trident badge comes into view – a muscular piece of Italian engineering that turns heads on every corner – a Maserati.
It all began in the early 1900s with Rodolfo Maserati, a railroad worker, whose son Carlo Maserati designed a single cylinder engine at age 17 after inheriting a lust for speed from his father. By the end of that year Carlo was hired as a test pilot by Fiat where he built a wooden chassis with a single cylinder engine – the world’s first Maserati!
Alfieri, another brother, later joined Carlo when he moved to Isotta Franschini. Unfortunately in 1910 Carlo died from a lung illness which left his dreams in Alfieri’s capable hands. This dream took the shape of a garage called “Societa Anonimo Officine Alfieri Maserati”. Following the Great War Alfieri expanded into the production of spark plugs and his expertise was used for the enhancement of aircraft engines.
In 1926 the “Tipo 26” made its debut as the first car sporting the Maserati name – with a trident logo displaying the colours of Bologna which was carefully designed by Mario Maserati. Demand for the Tipo 26 grew in 1929 when a Maserati set a world record of 246km/h in Cremona which wasn’t beaten until 1937.
Fast forward to 2015 and Maserati is now part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, the 7th largest carmaker in the world. Sister brands include Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrylser, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Lancia, Ram and most importantly, Ferrari.
Their current impressive Maserati model line-up includes a Ghibli, Quattroporte, GranTurismo and GranCabrio.
Maserati celebrated their 100th year (2014) with a bang –hoping to increase worldwide sales from the 6,000 units sold in 2011 to a whopping 75,000 predicted units in 2018. They are well on their way to achieving this goal as they more than doubled sales figures between 2012 and 2013.
A key element to this expansion will be the addition of some new models and a streamlining of the existing model range.
The GranTurismo and GranCoupe will be phased out and replaced with an Alfieri model in both coupe and cabrio body styles. A luxury SUV called the “Levante” will also be introduced to corner that segment of the high-end market.
All of the new Maserati range will be built on the same chassis as used in the Ghibli and Quattroporte, will be available as rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive and be assembled in Italy. Petrol engines will continue to be manufactured by Ferrari and the diesel engines will be made by VM Motori. It’s also expected that plug in hybrid technology will be introduced to the range by 2017.
Maserati’s expansion within Ireland will face 2 major battles – the first of these being that there is no Official Dealer or Authorised Service Agent in the Republic. The second is that of perception – a Maserati looks and sounds like a supercar which will get your neighbours attention, whether or not you want it to!
Irish prices are yet to be confirmed but it’s expected that a Ghibli and Quattroporte will be in the same price range as a large executive saloon – an Italian supercar with a company car price tag? I know which I’d choose!
For more information about Maserati in Ireland check out the Charles Hurst Group, their facebook page or follow them on twitter here
Suzanne Keane
4th June, 2015
