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”
No sneering at the back, these machines drive America.
Today we peer closely at those bread and butter US sales machines – Chevrolet’s Silverado, RAM, a Stellantis brand now separate from mothership, Dodge and the ever-ubiquitous F-150 from Ford.
Spare a thought for those salespeople spread across the land – brand loyalty no longer fully applies – given sales no longer. Once dyed in the wool Chevy fans (for instance) have now taken up the Ford mantle – or even headed elsewhere. Belay playing the Stradivarius, forebear opening those saline ducts, but if you do nothing else today, Continue reading “Bizarre Love Triangle”
Crossovers: So over.
For some years now, there has been a modest but persistent sentiment amid the European motor industry’s think tanks that the current wave of CUV crossover popularity would eventually peak, there being a point after any new fashion takes hold of the public consciousness, long after the early adopters Continue reading “Better With Allure”
Of Dali’s car, peppermills and ice cubes.
Filing the coffers is the name of the automotive game, be it through finance incentives, software investment or the plain shifting of tin. Of course, entrepreneurial spirit lies strong within the field – new avenues to pursue, lucrative boulevards to not only build but furnish, to the delights of old and potential customers alike. These can take many forms, especially when one combines celebrity and the historical record.
When one is a self-described (and wealthy) genius, allowances can curve toward the over exaggerated. Take the moustached dreamscape decorator, Salvador Dali. A marketers dream, then as now, the artist never drove a car, yet became absorbed by the American luxury only Cadillac could deliver.
Not obsessed with the motorcar per-se, for Dali, the looks of the car either dismayed or delighted – the technicalities were of no concern. Having had a great deal of success with the de Luxe, General Motors, on asking for Dali’s input, received his request to Continue reading “Avida Dollars”
Stellantis, you are spoiling us!
In less than a couple of months we have witnessed the arrival of two new SUVs from the auto conglomerate’s revered Italian high-performance marques. We have, however, previously expressed reservations about the distinctly mass-market componentry underpinning the Alfa Romeo Tonale. As with the Alfa, this month’s debutant, the Maserati Grecale, represents a move downmarket for the marque, but the ingredients are rather more original and appetising this time around.
At its world premiere in the Alfa Romeo Museum, the Tonale featured two F1 racing drivers and brand CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato as presenter and host. In marked contrast, the Grecale had a duo of Italian actors in a film studio; Matilda de Angelis and Alessandro Borghi, with Maserati Design VP Klaus Busse[1] cast in the straight man role, an unwitting butt of jokes, in the manner of a two-metre tall Ernie Wise. It’s either rather charming or just excruciating, like an overplayed piece of drama school coursework: are these actors really so beguiled by this overtly boastful, but ultimately rather shallow machine? Continue reading “Maserati Grecale – The Passion of St. Giorgio”
One more spin on the carousel.
In a few weeks time, Alfa Romeo will reveal to the world a car which will unite the massed ranks of automotive press in labelling it ‘make or break‘. Like Alfa Romeo’s reincarnation plans over the years, the tally of make or break Alfa Romeos has been depressingly numerous, but what unites them is a single stark characteristic: none has delivered upon its promise. The latest of these dates from 2015, when the current Giulia was announced, but given that crushing disappointment is a feeling all too familiar to those who admire the Milanese car brand and wish it success, the betting appears to be only for the brave.
Because, by the looks of things, the Giulia is on the ropes. Now, as we all know, saloons of all stripes are in retreat[1], even those of a more specialised, rear-wheel drive, sporting bent. Customers, we are reliably informed no longer Continue reading “The Serpent’s Egg”
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”
Dr. Stellantis – we need 200ml of adrenaline through the EMP2 platform this minute, otherwise he’ll flatline…
Be still my Yorkshire heartbeat, there remain yearnings for French saloons chez-Miles. For this I blame visits to Le Mans in years past, observing cool-looking battered saloons on the payage or sleek C6s or 607s parked effortless and poorly on village corners. But hark! A contrivance recently reported at AutoCropley – news that Stellantis are to Continue reading “Corde Sensible Pizzicato”
The week that has been – 14 February 2021.
As we enter the mid-point of February 2021 and for most of us, the interminable wait for any palpable sense of normalcy seems as distant a prospect as ever. Automotive news these days appears to arrive in bursts of optimism, before quickly dying down once more – somewhat akin to hopes for an even semi-productive year in prospect. Still, we must Continue reading “Newsgrab”
Driven To Write 