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Ferrari to share Detroit show stand with Chrysler

January 4, 2010 at 1:35 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Chrysler, Ferrari, Fiat, International News, Maserati

Glamour brands Ferrari and Maserati will be present at the 2010 Detroit Motor Show – Maranello was absent last year – but will share the same floor space with the Chrysler Group! High-end marques normally set up shop at the show’s luxury row, so imagine seeing the Ferrari 458 Italia next to a Dodge Ram and a Jeep Wrangler!

But that’s where the Italians will be, sandwiched between Dodge and Jeep brands. Both are part of the Chrysler Group, now part of the greater Fiat Group, which has Ferrari and Maserati under its umbrella. One big happy family indeed!

Chrysler is reportedly not hosting a press conference at this year’s show, so its new neighbours will do the job of drawing in the crowd. The Lancia Delta rebadged as a Chrysler is set to be one of the few “new” offerings on display.

The North American International Auto Show 2010 press preview starts on January 11, and we will bring you the best Detroit has to offer so keep your eyes peeled!

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Limited-edition Maserati GranTurismo S MC Sport Line targets the Middle East with ICE finishing

December 2, 2009 at 1:50 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Maserati

maserati-granturismo-s-mcline

It doesn’t matter what the current world economic situation is, the Middle East can always be counted on to lap up luxury goods, be it that Louis Vuitton handbag in Starhill or ordering a Veyron for the Palm Jumeirah mansion back home. Exotic car manufacturers are a major beneficiary of this excess, but this is the most obvious seduction attempt so far: Maserati has produced a limited-edition GranTurismo S MC Sport Line with Matt White “ICE” finishing specially for the Middle East, unveiled last week at an exclusive event for selected Arab customers at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit.

Only twelve of these GranTurismos will be made, representing twelve world titles won by the MC12 in the FIA GT International Championship since 2005: two Constructors’ Cups, four Drivers’ Titles, five Teams’ Titles and one Citation Cup. Twelve also signifies the Middle Eastern cities where Maserati is present with a dedicated showroom: each car will feature a plaque with the name of the city it’s allocated to.

For the GranTurismo S, MC suspension brings a 10mm lower ride height, stiffer dampers and larger-diameter anti-roll bars that reduce roll by 20%. Overall rigidity is increased by 16% at the front and 32% at the rear. This is combined with drilled, slotted front and rear disc brakes plus a re-calibrated Maserati Stability Programme that allows the driver “greater freedom of action”.

MC Sport Line options (available to Maserati clients worldwide) include an Aerodynamic Package that consists of double front winglets, rear lip spoiler, door sill inserts, black window surrounds, black exhaust pipes and body coloured door handles. Carbon fibre door mirrors and handles are also available. Maserati claims that these wind tunnel developed parts increase vertical load, allowing faster cornering and improved traction. Other add ons include gloss black alloys, dash carbon trim and aluminium racing pedals.

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Spider GranTurismo called the Maserati GranCabrio

August 26, 2009 at 11:01 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Maserati

Maserati GranCabrio

Here are an initial 4 photos of the new Maserati GranCabrio, essentially a drop top version of the GranTurismo. There are no photos of the GranCabrio with the top up right now but it has a soft top made of canvas, which is quite obvious looking at the length of the area behind the passenger cabin compared to the roof length required to cover up the cabin. Under the hood is of course Maserati’s 4.7 litre V8, putting out 433 horsepower. Of course with most cars scheduled only to debut at Frankfurt, details are scarce whenever the manufacturer decides to “tease” us with a few images and some details, so for the full release we’ll have to wait for Frankfurt.
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GALLERY: Naza Italia Lifestyle Centre in PJ

April 10, 2009 at 3:30 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Ferrari, Local News, Maserati

Ferrari Showroom
Click for enlarged image

The Naza Italia Lifestyle Centre is the largest Ferrari and Maserati showroom out of Italy. Sitting beside the Federal Highway in PJ, it has 2 floors with Ferrari on the ground floor and Maserati on the top. I paid a visit last week to check out the limited edition Ferrari Scuderia 16M Spyder. Have a look at some photos after the jump, and remember you can click the images for a larger resolution version!
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Naza Italia 4S Centre for Ferrari and Maserati

March 23, 2009 at 11:14 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Ferrari, Local News, Maserati

Naza Italia
Click to enlarge

Naza Italia Sdn Bhd, sole distributor and importer for Ferrari & Maserati will be opening the largest lifestyle centre for both these marques on 31 March 2009 in Petaling Jaya.

It consists of a state-of-the-art 4S (sales, service, systems & spare-parts) centre, including two-level Ferrari and Maserati showroom which houses the latest and most current models, as well as a contemporary lounge with full facilities for Ferrari Owners Club members and Maserati owners to enjoy.

The Naza Italia Lifestyle Centre is open to all and offers an extensive array of brand merchandise to both Ferrari & Maserati fans, owners & enthusiasts, as well as providing the owners the assurance that their Italian luxury marques will well cared for and maintained in pristine condition.

The showroom will be officiated by His Royal Majesty The King of Malaysia Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin.
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VIDEO: Maserati GranTurismo S Automatic Promo

March 11, 2009 at 1:32 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Maserati, Videos

Maserati GranTurismo S Automatic

Maserati has released promotional on the road footage of a beautiful white Maserati GranTurismo S Automatic cruising down a countryside. Despite its Ferrari-derived 4.7 litre V8, the driver in the promo video never found the need to trash the car down a straight road, he just cruised along enjoying the scenery of the countryside and coastal roads and the deep bassy rumble that V8s make at low revs (that we unfortunately cannot hear – the video has some background music instead). Maybe because he didn’t feel like he had to, I dunno about you but to me Maseratis invoke entirely different feelings compared to the rawness of a Ferrari, a Maserati is more Aston Martin-like but with more Italian flair. I wish there was a higher resolution version but couldn’t find one – watch it after the jump. I’ll update the copy if I find a hi-res version.
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Naza Italia’s Maserati “Fabulous in White” Party

March 5, 2009 at 12:19 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Local News, Maserati

MaseratiNaza Italia Sdn Bhd which was appointed sole distributor and importer of Maserati, threw an amazing 3 night party attended by over 600 people, including members of Malaysian high society, AMEX Platinum members and members of the Ferrari Owners Club on Thursday 26/2, Friday 27/2 and Saturday 28/2.

The party’s theme ‘Fabulous in White’ saw many of Malaysia’s corporate captains splendidly dressed in white mixing and mingling with the A-list crowd and local celebrities at an elegant event which reflected the sophistication and class of the Maserati.

Look after the jump for more shots of the event.
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Full range of Maserati Quattroporte and Maserati GranTurismo models now available in Malaysia!

March 3, 2009 at 7:49 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Local News, Maserati

Maserati GranTurismo Malaysia

The sexy new Maserati Gran Turismo and Maserati Quattroporte are now in Malaysia, brought to you by new distributors Naza Italia Sdn Bhd, which also deals with that other sexy Italian marque, Ferrari. The complete Maserati range will be sold here in Malaysia including the new Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S and the Maserati GranTurismo S Automatic which will be launched soon at the Geneva show sometime this month.

“Naza Italia’s automotive track record and the leadership of SM Faisal are truly the winning formula, which we seek. We feel privileged to have a highly experience partner who shares the same passion as we do at Maserati and that is a highly valuable asset, which will undoubtedly assure our market success here in Malaysia,” said Maserati Asia-Pacific Managing Director Simone Niccolai.

Naza Italia Sdn Bhd CEO SM Faisal says the segment in which these super luxury cars are in are not affected very much during these bad economic times as they deal with a very upper group of society and a limited production, so there is always demand. In Malaysia, SM Faisal says these privileged people can actually take advantage of the falling British pound and falling overseas used car prices when looking for good deals for used luxury cars.

Maserati GranTurismo Malaysia

A total of RM 10 million have been invested into Naza Italia’s flagship 45,000 square feet 4S center situated next to the Naza Auto Mall PJ which will include a car showroom, aftersales service area with dedicated waiting lounge, a delivery bay and also offer the sales of genuine Maserati accessories and merchandise.

Naza Italia will also offer the full range of customisation options, something that is only offered and enjoyed in Malaysia by the top notch brands. A Maserati owner can actually customise his car according to his own tastes and choose from various options of leather, stitching, carpets, roof linings, wood and lacquer finishes. You can not only pick your own wheel design but even the colours of the brake calipers!

These new batches of Maseratis in Malaysia are actually better as they are equipped with the new option of a 6-speed ZF automatic transmission. Previous buyers of Maseratis had to settle for an automated manual clutch rear-mounted transaxle transmission derived from a Ferrari transmission which is by nature sportier and harsher because it is a manual gearbox with a computer-controlled clutch and not as comfortable as a real automatic. The new automatic is now mounted directly behind the engine at the front.

The sexy Gran Turismo will start at RM 1,080,000 while the 4-door Quattroporte powered by a 4.2 litre V8 with 400 horsepower will be an alternative to the Mercedes-Benz S 500 starting from RM 1.3 million, depending on how much a customer wants to customise his car. Maserati has allocated 20 units and already 6 have been sold. For the “S” models of both cars, naturally the price will go up from there.

I can’t wait to see the Gran Turismo on Malaysian roads!

Look after the jump for more hi-res galleries of the Maseratis.
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Maserati 250F F1 car: greatest race car ever?

February 25, 2009 at 6:27 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Formula 1, Maserati, Motorsports

Maserati 250F
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One of the most iconic cars in Maserati’s history has also been voted the world’s greatest racing car ever by British magazine Octane. This car is the Maserati 250F and it was a Formula One car, which debuted in the 1954 season and used by customer teams until 1960. The name 250F refers to the specs that were instated for F1 in 1954 – a maximum engine capacity of 2.5 litres hence the 250 number, and F refers to Formula One naturally. Those rules also stipulated 750cc supercharged engines but Maserati decided to take the normally aspirated route.

It was built on a simple multi-tubular ladder-like frame which carries the suspension, body panels and engine. The rear used a De Dion axle while the front was of a double wishbone design. Maserati engineers paid their full attention to the engine that powered the car, a 2.5 litre inline-6 with twin spark dual spark ignition and 3 Weber 45 DCO3 Caburattors. It produced 270 horsepower at 8,000rpm. For those that complain about cars coming with rear drum brakes these days, this F1 car used drum brakes all-round!

Maserati 250F
Click for enlarged image

The 1950s Formula One world were dominated by road-car teams like Maserati together with Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz. The Maserati 250F competed in a total of 46 F1 championships with 277 entries and won 8 times. Its performance in its first two races exceeded Maserati’s expectations where it was driven by Juan-Manuel Fangio to victory before he unfortunately left to the newly-formed Mercedes-Benz team.

VIDEO: Fangio driving the 250F Maserati in Modena, Italy in the 1950s

Thanks to the beauty of the internet you can even check out Fangio driving the 250F from its on-board cam today, recorded all the way back in the 1950s!

“It steered beautifully, and inclined towards stable oversteer which one could exploit by balancing it against power and steering in long sustained drifts through corners. It rode well on the normal type of relatively smooth-surfaced course, although its small coil springs and leaf spring rear-end would use up available suspension movement over the bumps at the Ring,” said a young Stirling Moss who drove it as a private racer.

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Maserati GranTurismo S Automatic with a 433HP 4.7 V8 to debut in Geneva

February 24, 2009 at 2:36 pm By Harvinder Sidhu Filed Under Cars, Maserati

Italian sports car maker; Maserati which is about to be re-launched in Malaysia, has announced that it will unveil the Maserati GranTurismo S Automatic at the Geneva Motor Show which will initiate next week in Switzerland. According to the auto maker, the GranTurismo S Automatic features a 4.7 litre glorious V8 which is able to develop 433 Italian horses at 7,000 sweet revs. Pulling power is rated at 490Nm at 4,750 revs.

Well, it looks the same as the standard GranTurismo but, this time round, Maserati has mated the 4.7 V8 to a 6 speed ZF automatic transmission. Until now, the automatic tranny is only mated to the 4.2 litre power plant, while the current GranTurismo with the 4.7 litre V8 is coupled with an electro-actuated gearbox.

Other features offered with the GranTurismo S Automatic include; Skyhook suspension system featuring continuously adjustable dampers which offers improved driving comfort and a range of new generation passenger air-bags with Low Risk Deployment functionality; just to name a few. The Maserati Multi Media System with Bluetooth connectivity and iPod interface also comes as a standard fitment.

Although it features the same exterior design, a number of design elements have been added just for the GranTurismo S Automatic, such as new under-door mini-skirts featuring a prominent shape as well as new 20 inch wheel rims with “Trident” design.

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