Maserati is an Italian
car
manufacturer established on December 1, 1914, in Bologna
.
The
company's headquarters are now in Modena
, and its
emblem is a trident. It has been owned by
the Italian car giant Fiat
S.p.A.
since 1993. Inside the Fiat Group, Maserati was
initially associated with Ferrari
S.p.A.
, but more recently it has become part of the sports
car group including Alfa
Romeo.
History
- See Maserati
Brothers
The Maserati brothers,
Alfieri,
Bindo,
Carlo,
Ettore,
Ernesto and
Mario, were all involved with automobiles
from the beginning of the 20th century. Alfieri, Bindo and Ernesto
built 2-litre Grand Prix cars for
Diatto. In
1926, Diatto suspended the production of race cars, leading to the
creation of the first Maserati and the founding of the Maserati
marque.
One of the first Maseratis, driven by
Alfieri, won the 1926 Targa Florio
. Maserati began making race cars with 4, 6,
8 and 16 cylinders (actually two straight eights mounted parallel
to one another). Mario, an artist, is believed to have devised the
company's
trident emblem, based on one the
Fontana del Nettuno,
Bologna. Alfieri Maserati died in 1932 but three other
brothers, Bindo, Ernesto and Ettore, kept the firm going, building
cars that won races.
Orsi ownership
In 1937,
the remaining Maserati brothers sold their shares in the company to
the Adolfo Orsi family, who in 1940
relocated the company headquarters to their hometown of Modena, where it
remains to this day. The brothers continued in engineering
roles with the company. Racing successes continued, even against
the giants of German racing,
Auto Union and
Mercedes.
In 1939, a Maserati 8CTF won the Indianapolis
500
, a feat repeated the following year.
The war then intervened, Maserati abandoning cars to produce
components for the Italian war effort. During this time, Maserati
worked in fierce competition to construct a V16 towncar for
Benito Mussolini before
Ferry Porsche of
Volkswagen built one for
Adolf Hitler. This failed, and the plans were
scrapped. Once peace was restored, Maserati returned to making
cars; the
Maserati A6 series did well in
the post-war racing scene.
Key people joined the Maserati team.
Alberto Massimino, an old Fiat engineer,
with both Alfa Romeo and Ferrari experiences oversaw the design of
all racing models for the next ten years. With him joined engineers
Giulio Alfieri,
Vittorio Bellentani, and
Gioacchino Colombo. The focus was on the
best engines and chassis to succeed in car racing. These new
projects saw the last contributions of the Maserati brothers, who
after their 10-year contract with Orsi expired went on to form
O.S.C.A.. This new team at Maserati worked
on several projects: the
4CLT, the
A6 series, the
8CLT, and, pivotally for the future success of
the company, the
A6GCM.
The famous
Argentinian
driver Juan-Manuel
Fangio raced for Maserati for a number of years in the 1950s,
producing a number of stunning victories including winning the
world championship in 1957 in the Maserati
250F alongside Toulo de
Graffenried, Louis Chiron, Prince Bira, Enrico
Platé, and a few others. Other racing projects in the
1950s were the
200S,
300S (with several famous pilots, among them
Benoit Musy),
350S, and
450S,
followed in 1961 by the famous
Tipo 61.
Maserati had retired from factory racing participation due to the
Guidizzolo accident in 1957, though they continued to build cars
for
privateer. After 1957,
Maserati became more and more focussed on road cars, and chief
engineer
Giulio Alfieri built the
6-cylinder
3500 2+2 coupé, which
featured an aluminum body over
Carrozzeria Touring's
superleggera structure, a design also used for
the small-volume
V8-powered
5000. Next came the
Vignale-bodied
Sebring, launched in 1962, the
Mistral Coupé in 1963 and Spider in 1964,
both designed by
Pietro Frua, and also
in 1963, the company's first four-door, the
Quattroporte, designed by Frua as
well. The two-seat
Ghibli coupé was
launched in 1967, followed by a convertible in 1969.
Citroën ownership
Maserati "Birdcage"
Maserati Quattroporte grille
In 1968, Maserati was taken over by the French car manufacturer,
Citroën. Adolfo Orsi remained the
nominal president, but Maserati changed a great deal. New models
were launched, and built in much greater numbers than before.
Citroën borrowed Maserati expertise and engines for the
Citroën SM and other vehicles, and Maseratis
also incorporated Citroën technology, particularly in
hydraulics.
New models included the
Maserati Bora,
the first mass-produced
mid-engined Maserati, in 1971, and the
Maserati Merak and
Maserati Khamsin soon afterwards; the
Maserati Quattroporte II,
which shared some parts with
Citroën
SM, never came into production, although seven were made to
special order. The
1973 oil crisis,
however, put the brakes on this ambitious expansion when the demand
for fuel-hungry sports cars shrank. Citroën went bankrupt in 1974
and on 23 May 1975, the new controlling group
PSA Peugeot Citroën declared that
Maserati was also in administration. Propped up by Italian
government funds (GEPI,
Societa di Gestioni e Partecipazioni
Industriali dello Stato Italiano), the company was kept in
business.
The Maserati engine and its associated gearbox have been used in
other vehicles such as Special Rally prepared Citroën DS, as used
by Bob Neyret in Bandama Rally or in the
Ligier JS 2.
De Tomaso
In 1975 the company was taken over by
Alessandro de Tomaso, an Argentinian
former racing driver, who became managing director. De Tomaso, with
aid from GEPI, had arranged for the
Benelli motorcycle company, which he controlled, to buy
Maserati from Citroën and install him as its head. New models were
introduced in 1976, including the
Maserati Kyalami and the
Maserati Quattroporte III.
The 1980s saw the company largely abandoning the mid-engined sports
car in favour of squarely styled,
front-engined,
rear-drive coupes, cheaper than before but with aggressive
performance, like the
Maserati
Biturbo.The Maserati Biturbo engine was fitted in a large
number of models, all sharing key components. These inclided a
short two door coupe, the
Maserati
Karif, and a
cabriolet, the
Spyder, designed by
Zagato. The last version of the Maserati Biturbo was
called
Maserati Racing. It has been
a transitional model in which several features to be found on the
Ghibli II and the Shamal were tested. Two new coupes, the
Maserati Shamal and
Maserati Ghibli II, were released in 1990
and 1992, respectively.
The company also worked loosely with
Chrysler, now headed by de Tomaso's
friend
Lee Iacocca. Chrysler purchased
part of Maserati and the two jointly produced a car, the
Chrysler TC by Maserati.
There were also two further very challenging projects:
- the Chubasco a V8 mid-engine
sports car, unfortunately due to lack of funding remained a
dream.
- the Maserati Barchetta a
small open top mid engine sports car, designed by Synthesis design
(Carlo Gaino) ; unfortunately very few cars were produced.
Fiat ownership
1993 saw
the company acquired by Fiat.
Substantial investments were made in Maserati, and it has since
undergone something of a renaissance.
In 1999, a new chapter began in Maserati's history when the company
launched the
3200 GT, the only
"Fiat Maserati". This two-door coupé is powered by a 3.2 L
twin-turbocharged V8 which produces 370 hp (276 kW); the
car does 0–60 mph in less than 5 seconds. Its top speed is
285 km/h (177 mph). It was replaced by the Maserati
Spyder and
Coupé in the 2002 model year, which have
now both been discontinued in favor of the
GranTurismo.
Ferrari
In July
1997, Fiat Auto sold a 50% share in
the company to Maserati's long-time arch-rival Ferrari (Ferrari
being itself a sister company to Fiat Auto under the Fiat Group umbrella). In 1999 Ferrari took full
control, making Maserati its luxury division. A new factory was
built, replacing the existing 1940s-vintage facility. Ferrari is
credited for bringing Maserati back into business, after many
lackluster years of Maserati teetering on the brink of
bankruptcy.
More recently, Maserati discussed an agreement with
Volkswagen for the German company to share its
Audi division's Quattro all-wheel-drive
technology (originally meant for the still-born
Maserati Kubang sport utility vehicle concept) for
Maserati's current
Quattroporte
platform.
This idea has since been abandoned because
Volkswagen owns two of Ferrari's direct
rivals, Lamborghini and Bugatti
.
Meanwhile two new models have been shown to the public: the
MC12 road supersports and successful
GT racer with an
Ferrari
Enzo–derived chassis and engine. And the
Quattroporte, a high luxury
saloon with the 4.2l V8 engine. Maserati is
nowadays back in the business, very successfully selling on a
global basis.In 2001 Ferrari decided to throw away all the old
tooling and installed high-tech devices in the Modena factory,
making it one of the most advanced in the world.
Partnered with Alfa Romeo
In 2005 Maserati were split off from Ferrari and merged with Alfa
Romeo under Fiat Auto. Maserati sold 2,006 cars in the United
States in 2005, 2,108 in 2006, and 2,540 in 2007. In the second
quarter of 2007 Maserati made profit for the first time in the 17
years under Fiat Group ownership.
Automobiles
Current models
- See List of Maserati
vehicles for a complete historical list
Since
early 2002 Maseratis are once again being sold in the United States
market, which has quickly become for Maserati the
largest market worldwide. The company has also re-entered
the racing arena with their Trofeo and, in December 2003, the
Maserati MC12 (formerly known as the
MCC), which was developed according to FIA GT regulations and has
since competed with great success in the world FIA GT championship,
winning the teams championship three consecutive times from 2005 to
2007. The MC12 has also been raced in various national GT
championship as well as in the American Le Mans series. The MC12 is
based on the
Enzo Ferrari sports
car; 50 street-legal homologation models (roadsters and coupes)
have been sold for about
US$700,000 each.
Future models
On August 24, 2009, Maserati unveiled plans for a convertible
version of the
GranTurismo. The
GranCabrio will share the same 4.7 litre V8 as the
GranTurismo S, and will feature a
canvas top. The car is set to go on sale Spring 2010 as a 2010
model. Maserati is also developing fifteen GranTurismo MC racecars,
homologated for the European Cup and National Endurance Series, one
of which will be raced by GT motorsport organization
Cool Victory in Dubai in January, 2010.
See also
References
Maurizio Tabucchi (March 2003). Maserati: The Grand Prix: Sports
and GT Cars Model by Model, 1926-2003. ISBN 8879112600
Notes
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