Some once-iconic car brands don’t have the standing in the world that they used to. Lancia sells rewarmed Chrysler products, Chrysler itself currently has only one model, Volkswagen is a shadow of what it used to be, and so on. Then there’s Maserati.
Matt wrote a Morning Dump that pointed out that Maserati is in a sort of stale position. Who Knows has an idea to bring the passion back:
I’d like to see Maserati move away from the industry trend of chasing numbers and new tech, and sort of go backwards to old school fun. It would probably alienate a lot of potential buyers though. Something along the lines of:
“Presenting the new Maserati GT cabrio, with an NA V8 and gated manual transmission:
0-60: fast enough to earn yourself plentiful speeding tickets
top speed: we don’t know, why don’t you go find out yourself (redacted by attorneys) and write a song about it
skidpad: do you really want to make your passengers vomit all over your luxury interior?Did we test at the Nurburgring? No, instead we toured the Tuscan countryside for our development testing, going vineyard to vineyard.
Does it have software, electronics, and technology? All we did was hire a couple of teenagers to block any incoming wireless communications and auto-reply “bugger off, I’m driving my Maserati”. We also put the mandated screen for the backup camera in the passenger footwell out of spite. There are no visible screens on the dash, just finely crafted buttons.
If you do take your Maserati to a track day, and you finish dead last, but have the biggest shit-eating grin out of everyone, we have done our job correctly.
As an analogy, when we are involved in a lasagna, do we care how many calories it has or what it will make our poop look like? No, we are not German. We are Italian, all we care is that it is absolutely delicious.
Maserati- because enjoyment of life is a feeling, not a bunch of numbers in a spec sheet.”
Matt also asked about your favorite non-Ferrari Italian car. Harvey Firebirdman:
Obviously the best Italian car ever built was the Chrysler TC.
Son of Dad:
The Cadillac Allante would like a word.
V10omous hits with a solid answer:
Like many enthusiasts my age, it’s the Lamborghini Countach, and an enormous gap to anything else.
I shouldn’t have ever gotten rid of my own childhood Countach posters!
Jason wrote a Cold Start about the super-specific ad that depicts the Chevy Cavalier having just enough ground clearance to ride over a set of light bulbs on the ground. ShinyMetalAsp:
This single ride-height modification is thought to have saved as many as 7 (seven) squirrels from concussions.
Sid Bridge:
President Reagan: Ok, Mr. Smith. You have two minutes of my attention.
Roger Smith, GEO, GM: I just want to make sure you pushed through that legislation to divide highways with rows of incandescent light bulbs.
Reagan: I’m afraid we decided against it.
Smith: Dammit, Mr. President, I already paid for the ads!
Reagan: Well run them anyway. I don’t give a crap.
Smith: Ok, team! You heard the President! We’re going with the light bulb add anyway. Try to put a positive spin on it.
Have a great evening, everyone!
I drove a Maserati GT with a ridiculous exhaust on it once. If it had had a manual, it would have been perfect. Just the noise of it gave me a shit eating grin for hours.
I mean it SHOULD be a requirement that any new Maserati be capable of doing 185.
Why did porsche succeed when they introduced an entry car?
Because their products are (relatively) reliable, and maintenance is (relatively) affordable compared to their competitors.
For someone considering a used Maserati that seems to be a best bargain of the century, I recommend watching few mechanic videos.
You may get lucky and get one that is trouble free, but there is also a chance you are not.
“The most expensive car is a cheap exotic”
This describes what Maserati needs to do, I’m going to propose the vehicle they need to build to make that happen…
They need to build the Miata of Italian exotics – a simple tough roadster with a modern yet retro 60s style, beautifully detailed with stunning materials used throughout. If it was minimalist enough it could even use a snarling version of the current 4 cylinder engine, harking back to the Ferrari 500 or Siata 208. First and foremost it must be fun to drive and look at, a car you daydream of driving. The car so many retro-mods want to be.
Pricing is tricky, but I think to reestablish themselves they need to undercut other exotics while staying upmarket – say $75-125k for a simple but ultra fun and stunning to look at car. After reestablishing themselves as a car brand you proudly buy new, they can follow up with more exotic and expensive models.
I could just be old, but this is how I feel about most things today: EXPERIENCE > METRICS. I don’t care if something is faster, I care if it is more fun.
The reason my 91 Civic Si is such a riot to drive is that it handles well, the visibility is spectacular, there is not a lot of power you need to rev it out, and when you are driving IT FEELS FAST even though I’m not really going all that fast. It’s fantastic.
Related, I just picked up a 91 Seadoo XP jetski, same kind of thing applies. This hull is small/light/nimble, but what’s important is that it was before all the jet ski racing forced companies to focus on handling, carving, etc. My XP is hilarious, it doesn’t have those bolt on plates in the back to help it corner hard, if you corner hard enough it just sort of skips sideways and slides, if you corner even harder it does a 360 across the top of the water, hold on! It’s hilarious. New skis are larger, faster, corner harder, and are way less fun.
This is great, although we all know exactly how fast a Maserati goes.
I don’t. They took my license. Now I don’t drive.
Almost like the Dodge of luxury makers. I like the simplicity approach.
The one who said the Fiat Panda was the best Italian car should’ve gotten COTD 😛
It probably is the highest volume selling car from italy
The Multipla would like a word…
I love the Multipla too! Yeah it looks so cool despite all the hate it got for no reason 🙂
I’d love to see a 3rd generation Multipla that really leverages the packaging possibilities of an EV drivetrain. Bonus points if it looks more like the first gen than the second, but I’m ok with anything that’s putting function over form.
I saw my first Muira in a parking lot at the Zurich airport in 1972. I was 16 years old and was boarding a fight back home after a two week trip to Europe. PARADE magazine (remember that?) sponsored a trip for newspaper carriers and I won a spot that year.
I was already car crazy and the spotting opportunities during the time there were incredible.
Ah, the first supercar. The Miura was attainable – I worked with an engineer once who had one as his almost daily driver (back when all engineers had middle class jobs) for awhile. It was also prone to setting itself on fire… Beautiful car that is now ridiculously expensive because of the lack of survivors. While I don’t wish to go back to the primitive and dangerous cars if the 1970s and 1980s, I do long for a world where there are attainable (& desirable) halo cars.
That is the Maser I would want for sure. I’m with James May, testing at The Ring ruins cars.
I like to think that if humanity ever invents the time machine, they’ll go back to 1938, but not before stopping by the 2000s to pick up Captain Slow and destroy the scourge of ride quality.
1938 IS a target rich environment for sure.
Lancia doesn’t make any Chryslers any longer. They now make a true Lancia… a gussied up Fiat with unnecessary style.
Given how expensive everything is, the car brand that should be resurrected is actually SCION. It was too ahead of its time and when old people liked the frugality of it the whole thing was ruined—this time would be different.
I saw Disclosure Day over the weekend. You know how you could tell it was SciFi? It took place in a world where all the cars were Stellantis brands. Not a Maserati to be seen, even under those circumstances.
I was gonna say isn’t the Ypsilon just a Peugeot 208, but looking at various pics of it and the Opel Corsa, I think they did a good job rebodying it to not make it look like a blatant rebadge.
My xB reminds me a lot of my 67 Fiat 1100D station wagon. Who you calling old?