Maserati auto news

Maserati recalls 2008-10 Granturismo over potential taillamp failures

Maserati has announced a recall of certain 2008-2010 Granturismo models over faulty tail lamps. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the coupes may have been assembled with a defective rear lamp assembly. The lights could then fail to illuminated, potentially causing an accident. NHTSA says Maserati will replace the units free of charge once the campaign begins this month. The recall covers 1,768 Granturismo models.

Last year, Maserati recalled 763 Quattraporte and Granturismo models over faulty tie-rod ends, which could have led to a total loss of vehicle control. Click past the jump for the full NHTSA recall report. Owners may contact Maserati or NHTSA for more information.

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Official: Maserati hits the matte with exclusive GranTurismo S Limited Edition

We like us some matte finish here at Autoblog, but we have to admit that the usual smattering of matte black vinyl wraps leave us a bit in the dark. That's why our eyes pop just a little wider when we see a car that cuts the glare but keeps the palette. That's also why the storied brands of the Fiat group are getting top marks in our books these days.

At the 2010 Geneva Motor Show, the group's top brand Ferrari showed off a concept 599 with regenerative braking and a delicious matte green finish. The following year at the same venue, Alfa Romeo lifted the veil on the tempting 4C Concept in a beautiful shade of matte red. And at the Bologna Motor Show earlier this month, their sister brand Maserati showcased this special GranTurismo in matte blue.

The car in question is a unique GranTurismo S Limited Edition exclusive to the Italian market, limited to only twelve examples to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Italian unification. It also packs carbon spoilers front and rear, as well as carbon side mirrors and door handles, with matte black side skirts and headlamps, and black 20-inch rims with polished aluminum brake calipers. Check it out in the press release after the jump and the high-res images in the gallery for a closer look.

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Official: Maserati orders up special batch of Alfa Giuliettas for dealer loaner vehicles

There's strength in numbers, particularly for a producer of high-end exotic automobiles. For a brand like Maserati, being linked to the Fiat Group not only means that it can offset its carbon emissions across a broader range of cars - something like the two-cylinder Fiat 500 TwinAir balancing out the GranTurismo MC Stradale - but also gives the company's dealer network a ready fleet of more affordable loaner cars at their disposal.

A couple years ago, Alfa Romeo and Maserati - which had just recently been realigned under common leadership - announced a special edition MiTo that had been made specially for Maserati dealers in Europe. Now they've followed up with the slightly larger and more powerful Giulietta.

The Maserati edition Giulietta starts out with the 235-horsepower turbo four from the top-of-the-line Quadrifoglio Verde (green cloverleaf) model, and further distinguishes itself with the same brown leather you'd expect to find in a Maserati, plus special 18-inch wheels, red brake calipers and special badges inside and out.

In other words, a suitable loaner to receive upon dropping off your Quattroporte for its regular servicing. And if the Ferrari edition Fiat 500 was anything to go by, Alfa dealers could be find themselves fielding referrals from their Maserati counterparts with eager customers waiting to place orders of their own.

Continue reading Maserati orders up special batch of Alfa Giuliettas for dealer loaner vehicles

Official: Maserati claims title in Superstars Series with Quattroporte Evo

We'll forgive you if you haven't heard of the Superstars Series. It's only been around since 2004 (the International category since 2007) and all of the races take place in Europe - in fact over half took place this season in Italy. But similar to other national touring car championships - Germany's DTM, Japan's Super GT and Australia's V8 Supercars come to mind - the Superstars Series packs some serious racing machinery.

Take the Maserati Quattroporte EVO, for example. If that sounds badass to you, just look at the thing, because it is. It's based, of course, on the Trident marque's four-door model, which is already desirable enough on its own, but has been race prepped with an extreme wide-body kit and all the trimmings. It's the car with which Andrea Bertolini - a long-time Ferrari and Maserati factory driver who took the FIA GT1 championship in the MC12 he helped develop - and his Swiss Team just clinched the championship.

It's the first time that a Maserati has won the series title, previous champions having raced cars based on the BMW M3, Audi RS4 and Jaguar S-Type R. The formula calls for V8 engines, no turbos, based on four-seaters with two doors or four, and the rest of the field is made up of everything from the Chevy Lumina (a rebadged Holden) and Cadillac CTS-V to the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG and Porsche Panamera S. All in all, ten marques are represented, but this year Maserati was crowned champion of them all. Check out the machine with which they did it in the high-res image gallery and the press release after the jump.

Continue reading Maserati claims title in Superstars Series with Quattroporte Evo

Report: Marchionne aims Maserati at Porsche and Bentley

Expanding an automotive empire is tricky business. You can either pit one brand within the group against another, or you have to differentiate them significantly. Volkswagen has opted for the former, with numerous competitors from different group brands in the same segments, but the Fiat/Chrysler group over which Sergio Marchionne presides is going the other route.

As a result, Marchionne insists that Ferrari isn't after the same market that the likes of Porsche and Bentley - both part of the Volkswagen group - currently pursue. Ferrari, he says, is in a league of its own, but in fact it plays against the likes of Lamborghini and Bugatti. So what is Marchionne pitting against Porsche and Bentley? Maserati.

Reiterating that Ferrari will never build an SUV or a four-door sedan, Marchionne points to Maserati to fill those niches. In order to get there, as we know, the Trident marque is launching a pair of sedans - one larger and one smaller - to succeed the current Quattroporte, and the SUV currently known as the Kubang, previewed in concept form at the Frankfurt show last month.

Together with the GranTurismo range - the convertible version of which Marchionne is pictured with above - the new models are pegged to boost Maserati's sales up tenfold over the course of the coming years, from the 5,675 units it sold last year up to 55,000 or even 60,000 units. Ferrari's sales, meanwhile, will be limited to 10,000 units from the 6,573 it sold last year in markets around the world.

Rumormill: Maserati registers Cinqueporte, name of crossover revealed?

It shouldn't even need to be said, but Kubang just isn't a good name for a Maserati - and that's not just because it sounds like onomatopoeia for the noise a Biturbo makes just before it becomes a Monoturbo.

When the name first surfaced on a 2003 Detroit Auto Show concept, the Modenese automaker said that Kubang was named after an Indonesian wind. But if we are to believe this guy, "kubang" actually means "quagmire" in Javanese. So maybe it actually is appropriate for the production version of this Maserati concept, which will have the most confused bloodlines of any product to wear the Trident since the infamous Chrysler TC.

But seriously, we completely understand why the Fiat brass would prefer that the Maserati crossover be called something as banal as "Cinqueporte," which not only complements the Quattroporte sedan, but literally translates to "five-door." That the name has reportedly been registered in Italy only makes sense - if for no other reason than to keep someone else from using it.

Official: Maserati sets sail to beat speed records at sea

With Poseidon's trident on the nose and more chrome portals than a marina full of mega yachts, the link between Maserati and boats isn't imaginary. In fact, its engines have propelled racing boats to a number of powerboat championships in Italy and around the world. But now the Modenese automaker is embarking on a different kind of voyage with the sailboat you see here.

Rechristened under the name Maserati, this 70-foot VOR carbon-fiber mono-hull racing yacht previously competed in a round-the-world race in 2008-2009. Now unburdened by some 10% of its mass, Maserati will be sailed by world-renowned skipper Giovanni Soldini and his nine-man crew in an attempt to break the records for the three ocean routes: Cadiz to San Salvador, Miami to New York, and New York to Lizard Point, UK.

Maserati's participation doesn't appear to extend beyond lending its name, but it isn't the only automaker to have done so: the Volvo Ocean race is named by the Swedish automaker that sponsors it, much as Audi sponsors the MedCup sailing race and BMW once sponsored the USA-17 racing trimaran. Details in the press release after the jump with high-resolution images in the gallery for more.

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Official: Novitec spools out Maserati GranTurismo MC Stradale to 646 hp [w/video]

For those enamored of the Maserati GranTurismo, there's a steady progression of increasingly aggressive models to choose from. There's the base GranTurismo, with its 4.2-liter, 400-horsepower V8, then the GranTurismo S with a larger, more powerful 4.7-liter, 434hp V8, and finally the MC Stradale (as it's called in Europe, slightly less hardcore here as the GranTurismo MC) that packs a yet more prodigious 444hp into a more track-focused chassis. (Don't even get us started on the spectrum of convertible models.) But there will always be those for whom even the most extreme factory-prepared performance model will never be enough. And for such individuals, there's Novitec.

The tuning house is long known for tweaking Alfa Romeos, and through its Novitec Rosso division, the very best that Ferrari has to offer, too. But back in '09, they launched Novitec Tridente to deal specifically with Maseratis. And this is its latest project.

Starting with the MC Stradale, Novitec Tridente has dropped the suspension, mounted 22-inch alloys with a thin coating of Pirelli P Zero rubber, and - most crucially - superchaged and intercooled the engine (along with remapped management) up to 646 horsepower and 460 pound-feet of torque, fed by a big air scoop in the hood. That drops the 0-62 time to 3.9 seconds, and increases the top speed to an autostrada-crunching 190 miles per hour. Extensive interior accoutrements can also be added to the package that starts at €23,900 ($32k). You can see the results in full in the high-res image gallery, and the video and press release after the jump.

Continue reading Novitec spools out Maserati GranTurismo MC Stradale to 646 hp [w/video]

Video: Maserati Kubang (sorta) in motion

Maserati has rolled out a new video to drum up anticipation for the company's new SUV concept, the Kubang. The flick begins with images of the Italian automaker's illustrious racing past, complete with open-wheel fire-breathers sliding across cobblestone courses and a fleet of MC-12 racers blowing past exuberant fans. That's all well before the portly, computer-generated Kubang saunters onto the screen. We'll be clear here; we understand that occasionally, automakers need to bow to the tides of popular demand so that they can keep cranking out the vehicles we love the most. It works for Porsche. We get it, but this seems to be a bridge too far.

Maybe it's the fact that the Kubang has a name that sounds like it was lifted from the classic El Kabong cartoon series. Maybe it's the sight of the reaching Maserati grille supersized and splayed over the front of an SUV. Whatever it is, we're having a hard time getting behind the machine, but we sincerely hope that a drive of it changes our mind - it did with Porsche's Cayenne. Hit the jump to see the video for yourself.

Continue reading Maserati Kubang (sorta) in motion

First Drive: 2012 Maserati GranTurismo MC and GranTurismo Convertible Sport

The Maserati GranTurismo MC sounds every bit as spectacular as it looks. Its twin sport exhaust pipes, brazened a bronze hue from the intolerable heat of combustion, sing out the V8's tunes with the quickness and expert pitch change of an overcaffeinated Luciano Pavarotti.

At idle, the note is a frenzied rasp that seems to travel a distance before exiting the oversized pipes a foot above the pavement. During steady-state cruise, the sound is mellow, deep and threatening. Under full throttle it wails, screaming as the pressurized sound waves resonate off the tubular stainless steel walls of the muffler. And during deceleration it deliberately pops, cackles and burps as the engine ferociously fights its internal compression.

The sound will move your soul.

It is still morning in San Diego, and we have a full day with the new 2012 GranTurismo MC and its sibling the 2012 GranTurismo Convertible Sport. Life? It's good.

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