Showing posts with label MASERATI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MASERATI. Show all posts

Friday, April 22, 2011

Maserati GranTurismo MC 2011

Remember the Maserati GranTurismo MC Stradale that was introduced last year at the Paris Auto Show? The Italian sportscar maker has brought a ‘softer’ version of the MC to the States that drops the “Stradale” word from its name. That is because the GranTurismo MC has a full automatic gearbox instead of the original Race Shift transmission and two extra seats in the back instead of a roll cage. Even so, the Granturismo MC is the fastest series production model Maserati has ever sold in America.
With a top speed of 298 km/h (185 mph) and a 0-100km/h (62mph) time of 4.9 seconds, the GranTurismo MC is 3 km/h and 0.3 seconds slower than the Euro-spec MC Stradale. The reason is that the full automatic transmission can't match the response of the Race Shift box. Furthermore, the rear seats add weight to the car, although Maserati didn't release any specific numbers. These modifications were made to suit the tastes of U.S. consumers, with the company claiming that the GranTurismo MC is “aimed at a slightly more luxurious market”.
Developed by the Maserati Corse division (hence the MC nameplate), the car is powered by a 4.7-liter V8 engine delivering 450 horsepower at 7,000 rpm and 510 Nm (376 lb-ft) of torque at 4,750 rpm (20 Nm of torque more than the GranTurismo S Automatic).
Visually, the GranTurismo MC is identical to its European cousin, sans the colored turn signals and the black mirror caps and door handles. The MC was launched at Maserati's new showroom in the TriBeCa area of New York, with information on pricing and production numbers to be released at a later date.



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Saturday, February 26, 2011

Maserati Quattroporte 2030

The Maserati Quattroporte 2030 Concept is Yaroslav Chumachenko's vision of where Maserati's large sedan could be design-wise should we end up in the world of Minority Report and Tom Cruise is knocking at your door for that crime you're about to commit.
Chumachenko, a 25-year old Ukrainian designer, drew inspiration from dinosaur skeletons, zeppelins, and the Maserati Birdcage to create a car that is futuristic and unique: its modular platform would allow engineers to replace the car's various systems as they evolve and the panels would be uniquely customizable for each customer (in theory).
Its curvaceous exterior body panels use "Stereolithography additive manufacturing technology", the benefits of which are a quick formation process and the ability to adapt to any customer's request, while the four doors - larger front units and smaller rears - can actually fuse magnetically to become two larger doors (or, conversely, simply open as smaller front doors and leave the rear doors in position).
Beneath its body panels, the Quattroporte 2030 has a backbone consisting of the engine and transmission (its "vertebrae"), around which is a rib cage that functions as structural reinforcement and protective bracing.
This is definitely a concept that would most definitely be welcome on the show circuit, hearkening back to the long overhang-wearing pods of the 70's. Something like this would be much more entertaining to view than these "concepts" companies release purely as a means of gauging public reaction to a production car.

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