Maserati

The Maserati brothers, Alfieri, Bindo, Carlo, Ettore, and Ernesto, 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 Maserati’s, driven by Alfieri, won the 1926 Targa Florio. Maserati began making race cars with 4, 6, 8, and 16 cylinders (two straight-eights mounted parallel to one another). The trident logo of the Maserati car company, designed by Mario Maserati, is based on the Fountain of Neptune in Bologna's Piazza Maggiore. In 1920, one of the Maserati brothers used this symbol in the logo at the suggestion of family friend Marquis Diego de Sterlich. It was considered particularly appropriate for the sports car company due to the fact that Neptune represents strength and vigor; additionally the statue is a characteristic symbol of the company's original home city of Bologna. Alfieri Maserati died in 1932, but three other brothers, Bindo, Ernesto, and Ettore kept the firm going. 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 home town 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 back-to-back wins in 1939 and 1940, an 8CTF won the Indianapolis 500, making Maserati the only Italian manufacturer ever to do so.[9] The second world war then started and Maserati abandoned car making to produce components for the Italian military. During this time, Maserati worked in fierce competition to construct a V16 town car for Benito Mussolini before Ferry Porsche of Volkswagen built one for Adolf Hitler. This failed, and the plans were scrapped. After the war Maserati returned to making cars and key people joined the Maserati team. Alberto Massimino, a former FIAT engineer with both Alfa Romeo and Ferrari experience, 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 which resulted in the A6GCS. The famous Argentinian grand prix driver Juan-Manuel Fangio raced for Maserati for a number of years in the 1950s, achieving a number of stunning victories including winning the world championship in 1957 in the 250F. Maserati retired from factory racing participation because of a terrible crash during the 1957 Mille Miglia killing the driver and co-driver and nine spectators of which 5 were children. Maserati became more and more focused on building road-going grand tourers. The 1957 3500 GT marked a turning point in the marque's history, as its first ground-up grand tourer design and first series-produced car. Production jumped from a dozen to a few hundred cars a year. Chief engineer Giulio Alfieri took charge of the project and turned the 3.5-litre inline six from the 350S into a road-going engine. Launched with a Carrozzeria Touring 2+2 coupé superleggera body, a short wheelbase Vignale 3500 GT Spyder open top version followed in 1959. The 3500 GT's success, with over 2,200 made, was critical to Maserati's survival in the years following withdrawal from racing. The 3500 GT also provided the underpinnings for the small-volume V8-engined 5000 GT, another important car for Maserati. Born from the Shah of Persia's whim of owning a road car powered by the Maserati 450S racing engine, it became one of the fastest and most expensive cars of its time. They were powered by Maserati's first purely road-going V8 engine design. In 1962, the 3500 GT evolved into the Sebring, the bodywork made by Vignale and based on the shorter wheelbase convertible chassis. Next came the two-seater Mistral coupé in 1963 and the Spider in 1964, both powered by a six-cylinder engine and styled by Pietro Frua.In 1963, the company's first saloon was launched, the Quattroporte, also styled by Frua. If the 5000 GT inaugurated the marque's first road-going V8, the Quattroporte's Tipo 107 4.2-litre DOHC V8 was the forefather of all Maserati V8s up to 1990. The Ghia-designed Ghibli coupé was launched in 1967. It was powered by a 4.7-litre dry sump version of Maserati's quad cam V8. The Ghibli Spyder and high performance 4.9-litre Ghibli SS followed. In 1968, Maserati was taken over by Citroën. With secure financial backing, new models were launched and built in much greater numbers than years prior. The first new arrival was the 1969 Indy—a Vignale-bodied four-seater GT with a traditional V8 drivetrain, 1,100 units of the Indy were made. In 1971, the Bora was the company's first series production mid-engine model, an idea agreed with administrator Guy Malleret shortly after the 1968 takeover. The Bora ended Maserati's reputation for producing fast but technologically out of date cars, being the first Maserati with four wheel independent suspension. In contrast, competitor Lamborghini already used independent suspension since 1964. In 1972, the Bora was transformed to the Merak, now employing a SM-derived V6 enlarged to 3.0-litres. That same year the Bertone-designed Khamsin was introduced which was produced until 1974. Meanwhile, the 1973 oil crisis put a halt to the ambitious expansion of Maserati; demand for fuel- hungry sports cars and grand tourers shrank drastically by 60–70%. The only Maserati automobile that continued to sell in appreciable numbers was the small-displacement Merak. In 1974 things took a turn for the worse. Citroën went bankrupt and its incorporation into PSA Peugeot Citroën began. The year closed with domestic sales tumbling from 1973's 360 to 150 units. On 8 August 1975, an agreement was signed at the Ministry of Industry in Rome, and Maserati passed from Citroën to Italian state-owned holding company GEPI and Alejandro de Tomaso, an Argentinian industrialist and former racing driver, he became president and CEO Beginning in 1976, new models were introduced, sharing their underpinnings—but not their engines—with De Tomaso cars; first came the Kyalami grand tourer, derived from the De Tomaso Longchamp, restyled by Frua and powered by Maserati's own V8. Following the Kyalami was the Giugiaro-designed Quattroporte III based on the De Tomaso Deauville, which was introduced in 1976 and put on sale in 1979. The Bora's sales dwindled down; the Khamsin was discontinued between 1982 and 1983. Progressively stripped of its Citroën-derived parts, the Merak continued to sell over one hundred units a year, until 1982. The 1980s saw the company largely abandoning the mid-engine sports car and introduced the Biturbo, a compact front-engine, rear-drive coupé. Every new Maserati launched up to the 1990s would be based on the Biturbo's platform. The Biturbo family was extremely successful at exploiting the Maserati name, selling a total of 40,000 units. 1988 brought the Karif, a two-seater. The Biturbo name was dropped altogether, as updated coupés and saloons were updated and became the 222 and 422. 1989 marked the reintroduction of an eight-cylinder grand tourer: the Shamal, built on a modified short wheelbase Biturbo chassis. The Ghibli II was introduced in 1992. It was a six-cylinder coupé, with modified Biturbo underpinnings dressed by new Gandini bodywork (toned down from the Shamal) and the latest evolution of the 24-valve twin-turbocharged V6 with record breaking specific output. Between 1992 and 1994, all models except the Ghibli and Shamal were progressively discontinued. On 19 May 1993, 17 years after rescuing the company from liquidation, Alejandro De Tomaso sold his 51% stake in Maserati to FIAT, which became the sole owner. In July 1997, FIAT sold a 50% share in the company to Maserati's long-time arch-rival Ferrari (Ferrari itself being owned by FIAT). In 1999, Ferrari took full control, making Maserati its luxury division. A new factory was built, replacing the existing 1940s-era facility and modern sports and luxury cars such as the 3200GT, Maserati Coupé, Gran Turisimo, Gran Cabrio and the Quattroporte. Maserati is back in business and successfully selling automobiles on a global basis.