Maserati

Maserati
(Maserati), an Italian company specializing in the production of comfortable sports cars with an efficient appearance and high dynamic performance. It is part of the largest Italian automobile corporation FIAT.

Each of the Maserati brothers – Carlo, Bindo, Alfieri, Mario, Ettore and Ernesto – contributed in one way or another to the development of the company that still bears their name.

Carlo, the eldest of the brothers, was the first in the family to start working on cars. It was he who created the first Maserati car, equipped with a single-cylinder engine and a very simple chassis. But the illness and subsequent death of 29-year-old Carlo Maserati interrupted the work.

On December 14, 1914, Alfieri Maserati founded Officine Alfieri Maserati. The main activities of the new enterprise were the development and production of cars, engines and spark plugs. The company was located in Bologna, where a sculpture of Neptune, the work of Giambologna, is installed in the main city square. Inspired by this work, Mario Maserati designed the company’s trademark – a trident, which served as an omen of the future of the Maserati brothers.

In 1925, Alfieri, Ernesto and Bindo, commissioned by a major Italian manufacturer and automaker Diatto, created a two-liter engine, which was equipped with a fairly successful Grand Prix racing car.

But the birth of Maserati, as a company and brand known throughout the world, took place on April 25, 1926, at the start of the Targa Florio race. At these competitions, the third of the Maserati brothers, Alfieri, presented and piloted the first production car, the Maserati Gran Prix 1500, which carried the trident sign on its hood.

In 1927, Ernesto on Tipo 26 becomes the champion of Italy. After several high-profile victories, the whole of Europe learned about the company. And from that moment on, the brothers decided to specialize in the production of exclusively racing cars. The collective genius of the Maserati brothers was focused on building super-powerful motors. In 1929, the racer Bakonin Borzacchini set a new speed record at a distance of 10 km – 246 km / h on a Tipo V4.

From 1932 to 1939, after the death of Alfieri, all cars were created by the younger Maserati – Ernesto. During this period, he designed all the engines himself and led his cars to victory in the race several times. In 1933, Ernesto Maserati was the first in Europe to use power brakes on racing cars.

In 1938-1939 Maserati became part of the Orsi Gruppo. In 1939, the Orsi family moved the company from Bologna to Modenowhere and is still in business today.

In 1939 and 1940, the American Wilbur Shaw in the Maserati 8CTF (under the name of Boyle Specials), winning the Indianapolis 500, helped Maserati enter the history of legendary American racing. Maserati 8CTFs, powered by the superb 8CTF 8-cylinder engines, were the only Italian cars ever to win these races.

After the war, the remaining Maserati brothers left the company to which they left their name and organized their own OSCA (Officina Specializzata Costruzione Automobili Fratelli Maserati) enterprise in their native Bologna. The new company took up the production of racing cars, but its cars did not have the same success and popularity.

In 1947, the presentation of the first GT class car took place – the A6 1500 with a body designed by Pininfarina. The racing version of the A6GCS driven by Alberto Ascari won the Modena race several times and was a force to be reckoned with at the Mille Milia and Targa Florio races.

The road version of this car was produced in small batches and was equipped with an almost racing chassis and a lightweight 2-liter 6-cylinder engine, which had, at first, 1 camshaft and 1 spark plug per cylinder, and then 2 camshafts and 2 spark plugs per cylinder.

All these cars were, so to speak, “hand made” works of authorship, produced in very small series, and there were practically no two similar models among them.

In 1954, a single-seat Maserati 250F won the Formula 1 race in Argentina. In 1957, powered by a powerful and reliable 6-cylinder engine, the 250F helped the famous Fangio win his fifth world title and the last title for Maserati. In the same year, Maserati officially announced its retirement from racing and transferred racing technology to production road cars.

Then, in 1957, the company’s bestseller, the Maserati 3500GT, was presented – the first serial road model. It was equipped with a 6-cylinder twin cam engine (2 overhead camshafts) with a displacement of 3.5 liters. The body was created by the Milanese firm Touring. Including the 3500 series had its own “highlight” – the Spyder coupe from the Vignale bodywork studio. With only 242 built, this model is considered by designers and automotive historians to be the finest Maserati ever produced. In 1961, the car was equipped with a Lucas mechanical fuel injection system, which allowed the company to add the letters GTI to the name of the 3500. Thus, the 3500GT became the first Italian car to be equipped with a fuel injection system. The 3500GT was discontinued in 1964 after about 2000 cars had been produced.

At the turn of the 1950s and 1960s, the production of the Maserati 5000 GT began, a car that revived the pre-war luxury tradition of building custom cars. Maserati supplied the engine and chassis, and the car bodies were “sewn” at the Allemano, Michelotti, Bertone studios.

In 1963, another project was born on the drawing boards of the Vignale company, designed to replace the outdated Touring design body by that time. The new car, named Sebring, in honor of Maserati’s victories in North American races, had a well-adjusted and reliable engine in a modern and aggressive body. The release of its 2 main versions with a 3.7 liter 6-cylinder engine. and 4.0 l. continued until 1969.

In 1963, another turn took place in the history of Maserati, which distinguished the brand from other automakers. The expensive high-speed Mistral and Quattroporte sedans were presented to the world. In the UK, the new Quattroporte (translated from Italian means “four-door”), which had not only a luxurious interior, but also excellent dynamics and handling, cost more than Rolls Royce. The Quattroporte was the company’s first executive model. It was powered by a 4.2 liter version of the V8 engine that was first installed in the 5000 GT. For those who wanted the luxury of a Quattroporte but with a sportier body, Maserati released the Mexico model.

The year 1966 was marked for the company with the release of the Ghibli coupe, the body for which was created in the studio of the young Giorgetto Giugiaro, who was still working at Ghia at that time. This car became a real sensation of its time and served as a hallmark of Maserati in the turbulent 60s.

In 1968, the French Citroen bought a controlling stake in Maserati. The most notable result of the partnership between the French and Italians was the Indy model (1104 copies were produced), more than the alliance of the two automobile companies, which lasted until 1975, did not show itself.

Despite Maserati’s retirement from racing, its engines and cars continued to win races. Equipped with a Maserati V-12 300 Cooper engine, he won 2 world championships in a row – in Mexico in 1966 and South Africa in 1967.

In 1968, Maserati acquired a French partner, Citroen, (it is a stretch to call it a partner, since the French bought a controlling stake in a struggling Italian company). At the same time, the premiere of the Indy 2 + 2 model took place and the production of a new V6 engine began.

In 1971, the Bora model was born – the company’s first GT class car with a mid-engine. With this car, a new concept of Maserati models began to emerge. From now on, the company begins to make not just ultra-fast cars. She gives her road models even more comfort and luxury.

The following year, the premiere of the Maserati Merak took place, which the Italians endowed with a V6 engine developed for the Citroen SM. Merak has become a worthy competitor to its classmates Ferrari 308 GT4 and Lamborghini Uracco. In 1976, the Merak SS was introduced, equipped with a new modified 3.0-litre V6 and a more elegant instrument panel from Bora.

At the end of the Citroen era in Maserati history, the Ghibli was replaced in 1973 by a new model, the Khamsin, fitted with a body designed by Bertone. The car had a 4.9 liter front-mounted V8 engine and had a wonderful design.

The short-lived alliance with Citroen broke up in 1975 and Maserati took under his wing the famous Alejandro De Tomaso, who, having decided to refresh the Maserati lineup, created the Kyalami project. The car was produced in 2 versions – 4.2 liters. with manual transmission and 4.9 liters. with an automatic.

In 1976, Maserati updates its marketing strategy and decides to explore a new niche. To do this, the company enters into competition with Mercedes and BMW and produces the first executive class car in its history – the Quattroporte III with a body from Giugiaro.

in 1981 De Tomaso changes strategy. The solution was the Biturbo, a two-door sedan equipped with a new 2-litre, 2-turbo 6-cylinder engine producing 180 hp. All this was packed in a small but luxurious body. A real hit in Italy, Biturbo entered the world stage in 1986. Export versions were equipped with a modified 2.5-liter V6.

In 1989, Shamal saw the light, the last representative of the De Tomaso era in the fate of Maserati, equipped with a new 3200 cm3 8-cylinder Biturbo engine, which gave this monster an output of 325 hp.

Soon came Karif – a real sports car. By installing a reliable 2.8 V6 on a Biturbo chassis, they got the fastest car in the Biturbo series. And by removing the roof on the Spyder version, Maserati engineers turned it into a real rocket.

From 1993 to 1995, the Italian giant Fiat Auto SpA bought up 90% of Maserati’s shares, and in 1996, under its tutelage, the premiere of the new Quattroporte IV Evoluzione, the Maserati of our time, took place.

In 1995, under the patronage of Fiat, a series of races for the Open Ghibli Cup was held. The release of the road version known as the Ghibli Cup was timed to coincide with this event. With only a 2-liter engine, these cars have a breathtaking 330 hp. – no production car, including the Mclaren F1, has such a return on 1 liter of fuel.

In 1997, Maserati merged with Ferrari (in fact, the management of the company passed to Ferrari). Since November 1997, in order to improve the quality and reliability of the Maserati model range, the production of Ghibli and Quattroporte was suspended for a year at the Modena plants. An assembly plant upgrade costing nearly $11.5 million was successfully completed in the fall of 1998 with the launch of the new Maserati 3200 GT.

The new Spyder GT was released in 2002.

The current marketing strategy of Maserati outlines the transition to the production of comfortable sports cars with a spectacular appearance and high speed characteristics.