Maserati Cars For Sale In Australia

Show search form Maserati, an Italian company specializing in the production of comfortable sports cars with efficient looks and high dynamic performance. It is part of the largest Italian automobile corporation FIAT.

Each of the Maserati brothers - Carlo, Bindo, Alfieri, Mario, Ettore and Ernesto - contributed in one way or another to the development of the company that still bears their name.

Carlo, the eldest of the brothers, was the first in the family to start working on cars. It was he who created the first Maserati car equipped with a singlea lindrovym engine and a very simple chassis. But illness and the ensuing death of 29-year-old Carlo Maserati interrupted work.

On December 14, 1914, Alfieri Maserati founded Officine Alfieri Maserati. The main activities of the new enterprise were the development and production of cars, engines and spark plugs. The company was based in Bologna, where a sculpture of Neptune, by Giambologna, is installed in the main city square. Inspired by this work, Mario Maserati developed the company's trademark - a trident, towhich served as an omen of the future firm of the Maserati brothers.

In 1925, Alfieri, Ernesto and Bindo, commissioned by the major Italian manufacturer and automaker Diatto, created a two-liter engine, which was equipped with a rather successful Grand Prix racing car.

But the birth of Maserati, as a company and brand known to the whole world, took place on April 25, 1926, at the start of the Targa Florio races. At these competitions, the third of the Maserati brothers - Alfieri, presented and piloted the first production car Maserati Gran Prix 1500, which carriedWe eat the hood of the trident sign.

In 1927 Ernesto became the champion of Italy in Tipo 26. After several high-profile victories, the whole of Europe learned about the company. And from that moment on, the brothers decided to specialize in the production of exclusively racing cars. The collective genius of the Maserati brothers was focused on creating super-powerful motors. In 1929, racer Bakonin Borzacchini on a Tipo V4 set a new speed record at a distance of 10 km - 246 km / h.

From 1932 to 1939, after the death of Alfieri, all cars were created by the younger Maserati - Ernesto. During this period, hehe designed all the engines himself and himself led his cars to victory in races several times. In 1933, Ernesto Maserati was the first in Europe to use hydraulic brake booster in racing cars.

From 1938 to 1939, Maserati became part of the Orsi Gruppo. In 1939, the Orsi family moved the business from Bologna to Modenugda and is still present.

In 1939 and 1940, American Wilbur Shaw in a Maserati 8CTF (under the name Boyle Specials), winning the Indianapolis 500, helped Masеrati go down in the history of legendary American racing. Maserati 8CTF equipped with excellent8-cylinder 8CTF engines, became the only Italian cars to win these races in their history.

After the war, the remaining Maserati brothers left the company, which they left their name to and organized their own company OSCA (Officina Specializzata Costruzione Automobili Fratelli Maserati) in their native Bologna. The new company started producing racing cars, but its cars did not have the previous success and popularity.

In 1947, the presentation of the first car of the GT class - A6 1500 with a body designed by Pininfarina took place. The racing version of the A6GCS under controlAlberto Askari won several races in Modena and was a force to be reckoned with in the Mille Milia and Targa Florio races.

The road version of this car was produced in small series and was equipped with an almost racing chassis and a lightweight 6-cylinder 2-liter engine, which had, first, 1 camshaft and 1 plug per cylinder, and then 2 camshafts and 2 plugs per cylinder.

All these cars were, so to speak, "hand made" works of authorship, were produced in very small series and there were practically no two among them.similar models.

In 1954, the single Maserati 250F won the Formula 1 race in Argentina. In 1957, equipped with a powerful and reliable 6-cylinder engine, the 250F helped the famous Fangio win his fifth world title and the last title for Maserati. In the same year, Maserati officially announced its retirement from racing and transferred racing technology to production road cars.

At the same time, in 1957, the company's best-selling Maserati 3500GT, the first serial road model, was presented. It was equipped with a 6-cylinder twin cam engine (2 uppercamshaft) with a working volume of 3.5 liters. The body was created by the Milan firm Touring. The 3500 series also had its own highlight - the Spyder coupe from the Vignale body shop. Designers and automotive historians consider this model, produced in a circulation of only 242 pieces, to be the most elegant of all Maserati cars. In 1961, the car was equipped with a Lucas mechanical fuel injection system, which allowed the company to add the letters GTI to the name of 3500. Thus, the 3500GT became the first Italian car to be equipped with a fuel injection system. Aboutproduction of the 3500GT was discontinued in 1964, after about 2000 vehicles were produced.

At the turn of the 50s and 60s, the production of the Maserati 5000 GT, a car that revived the luxurious pre-war tradition of building a car “to order”, began. Maserati supplied the engine and chassis, and the car bodies were “sewn” by Allemano, Michelotti, Bertone.

In 1963, another project was born on the drawing boards of the Vignale company, designed to replace the outdated by that time Touring design body. The new car, named Sebring, in honor of Maserati's North American racing victories, hada crummy and reliable engine in a modern and aggressive body. The release of its 2 main versions with a 6-cylinder engine with a volume of 3.7 liters. and 4.0 liters. lasted until 1969.

1963 saw another turn in Maserati's history that set the brand apart from the rest of the automakers. The world was presented with expensive high-speed sedans Mistral and Quattroporte. In the UK, the new Quattroporte (translated from Italian as "four-door"), which had not only a luxurious interior, but also excellent dynamics and handling, cost more than Rolls Royce. Quattroporte stl the first representative model of the firm. It was powered by a 4.2 liter version of the V8 engine first found in the 5000 GT. For those looking for the luxury of a Quattroporte, but with a sportier body, Maserati has released the Mexico model.

The year 1966 was marked for the company by the release of the Ghibli coupe, the body for which was created in the studio of the young Giorgetto Giugiaro, who was still working in Ghia at that time. This car became a real sensation of its time and served as Maserati's calling card in the turbulent 60s.

In 1968, a controlling stake in Maserati was bought by the FrenchCitroen. The most notable result of the partnership between the French and Italians was the Indy model (1104 copies were produced), more than the alliance of the two car companies, which lasted until 1975, did not show itself in anything.

Despite Maserati's retirement from racing, its engines and cars continued to win races. Powered by a Maserati V-12 engine, the 300 Cooper won two world championships in a row - Mexico in 1966 and South Africa in 1967.

In 1968, Maserati acquired a French partner - Citroen, (it can be called a partner at a stretch, since the French bought upa large block of shares in an Italian company in a difficult situation). At the same time, the Indy 2 + 2 model premiered and production of the new V6 engine began.

In 1971, the Bora was born - the company's first GT car with a mid-engined engine. From this car, a new concept for Maserati models began to emerge. From now on, the company begins to make more than just super-fast cars. She gives her travel models even more comfort and luxury.

The following year, the premiere of the Maserati Merak took place, which the Italians endowed with a V6 engine, radeveloped for the Citroen SM. Merak has become a worthy competitor to its classmates Ferrari 308 GT4 and Lamborghini Uracco. In 1976 the Merak SS appeared, equipped with a new modified 3-liter V6 version and a more elegant Bora dashboard.

At the end of the Citroen era in the history of Maserati, the Ghibli was replaced in 1973 by a new model - Khamsin, equipped with a body designed by Bertone. The car had a 4.9 liter V8 engine with a front position and had a remarkable design.

The short-lived alliance with Citroen fell apart in 1975 and Maserati took over the famous Alejandro De Tomaz, who, deciding to freshen up the Maserati lineup, created the Kyalami project. The car was produced in 2 versions - 4.2 liters. with a manual transmission and 4.9 liters. with a gun.

In 1976, Maserati renews its marketing strategy and decides to explore a new niche. To this end, the company enters into competition with Mercedes and BMW and produces the first executive class car in its history - the Quattroporte III with a body from Giugiaro.

in 1981 De Tomaso changes his strategy. The solution was Biturbo, a two-door sedan equipped with a new 6-cylinder 2-liter engine with 2 turbines, powerwith 180 hp. All this was packed in a small but luxurious body. A hit in Italy, Biturbo entered the world stage in 1986. Export versions were equipped with a modified 2.5-liter V6.

1989 saw the release of Shamal, the last representative of the De Tomaso era in the fate of Maserati, equipped with a new 3200cc Biturbo 8-cylinder engine that gave this monster 325 hp.

Soon the Karif came out - a real sports car. Fitting a reliable 2.8 V6 to the Biturbo chassis, they got the fastest car in the Biturbo series. And after removing the roof inthe Spyder, Maserati engineers turned it into a real rocket.

From 1993 to 1995, the Italian giant Fiat Auto SpA bought 90% of Maserati's shares and in 1996, under his tutelage, the premiere of the new Quattroporte IV Evoluzione - the Maserati of our time took place.

In 1995, under the patronage of Fiat, a series of races for the Ghibli Open Cup were held. The release of the road version known as the Ghibli Cup was timed to this event. With just a 2-liter engine, these cars have a breathtaking 330 hp. - no production car has such an output per 1 liter of fuel, vkyuchaya and Mclaren F1.

In 1997, Maserati merged with Ferrari (in fact, the management of the company passed to Ferrari). Since November 1997, in order to improve the quality and reliability of the Maserati range, the production of the Ghibli and Quattroporte has been suspended at the Modena factories for a year. The nearly $ 11.5 million modernization of the assembly plant was successfully completed in the fall of 1998 with the release of the new Maserati 3200 GT.

The new Spyder GT model came out in 2002.

Maserati's current marketing strategy envisions a shift towards comfortable sports cars with spectacularappearance and high speed characteristics.

List of the Maserati models