Patience is a virtue. Well, sometimes…
Over the past two and half years or so, we have all experienced a harsh, if valuable lesson in the music of chance, in how unforeseen events can derail all best-laid plans and forecasts. Viewing matters though this chaotic prism, Maserati’s more or less decade-long deliberation over the future of its heartland GranTurismo offering appears almost wilfully indulgent.
However, one should also Continue reading “Expectation Management”
An irregular current blows through the neighbourhood.
Maserati: the very name evokes charisma, although broad Yorkshire tones tend to offer a less divine-sounding Mazz-Uratty. The model names themselves convey equally evocative overtones; even a dusty, dry wind from North Africa manages to cleave enigmatic inflections – Ghibli.
Not the poster boy from the 1960s however – today we pore over the modern, everyday Ghibli – the tipo M157, revealed to the world in Shanghai 2013. Produced in the former Bertone manufacturing plant of Grugliasco, close to Turin[1], life for the new Ghibli began under FCA’s Centro Stile direction, Marco Tencone seemingly responsible for overseeing those dashingly good looks.
Plans were hatched to Continue reading “Mediterranean Depression? Hardly.”
Full Bora? We consider the new for 2021 MC20
Butterflies arrive in many different guises – usually but not exclusively colourful – thumbnail to two large cupped hands in size, yet delicate, even when aggressive. Today, we cast our gaze upon one such farfalla, flying directly to some lucky devil you don’t know proudly carrying a new satin effect trident – the Maserati MC20.
According to lanky, charismatic German designer, Klaus Busse – in post for over five years now – their new supercar took twenty-four months to bring to fruition. A blend of technology and good old-fashioned honing skills brought about the car as a game of two halves.
The upper body being a product of initial fast sketches followed by in-depth projections and clay sculpting. Bereft of ugly wings or basking shark-aping openings is in part thanks to the exceptional attention to detail; over 2000 hours spent with chassis expert Dallara’s wind tunnel, combined with the ground-ward section of the car-attuned aerodynamics. The tub weighs less than 100Kgs: overall MC20 weighs just under 1500Kgs.
Busse is at pains to Continue reading “Patis Familiar Stellantis”
Maserati’s cornerstone product also happens to be its oldest, and by some margin. Where now for the GranTurismo?
Prior to his untimely demise, former FCA helmsman, Sergio Marchionne was frequently characterised as a heartless technocrat entirely lacking in marque fealty. It was a narrative he did little to disavow and while the truth may not have been quite as cut and dried as his many detractors alleged, there can be little doubt that he was a gimlet-sharp pragmatist who would employ all tools at his disposal to Continue reading “L’anima di Tridente”
Driven To Write 