Car Throttle

There's a long list of nice things to say about Maserati's GranTurismo coupe. It's prettier than a pile of Keira Knightley's, it sounds like God playing a trumpet, the interior smells like money and winning, and beneath all the Maserati glamour it's got a lot of bits and pieces from big brother Ferrari.  It makes a 911 look like the book-club square of the schoolyard, it makes the Aston Martin DB9 seem overpriced, and... well, you get it.  So how do you improve on that? Maserati thinks more power and more of a dynamic edge is a good start.  Perhaps we should not dwell on the fact that the GranTurismo was designed as a luxurious grand tourer (hey, it says so on the decklid!) and just appreciate

Mansory is a tuning company known for its outrageous creations for the uber-wealthy with no taste. Recently, it introduced the Rolls-Royce Phantom White Ghost, which is perhaps its most tame creation yet. Incidentally, it also the best looking of all. The latest vehicle to experience Mansory's touch is the Maserati Gran Turismo, and you can decide the results for yourself below. Mansory's ostentatious "look at me" traits still apply to the Gran Turismo, this time in orange. Now this writer likes the color orange, but it has to be done right. We think cars like the Maserati Gran Turismo are pretty much best left alone too - they show upper crust status enough as they are. As far as exterior changes, the Mansory GT and GTS get

April was a big month for Chrysler-Fiat, as the company had a big press briefing where it introduced five-year strategic business plans for Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Fiat and Maserati. The plan for Maserati created quite a stir, as it showed the brand expanding to become a bit more mainstream. The centerpiece of that plan was a new smaller sedan to slot in below the Quattroporte. The car would be aimed at the Audi A6, BMW 5-Series and Jaguar XF, with a pricetag of under $74,000. At the time of the plan's introduction, we speculated that the new model would most likely be competing against the sport variants of each of those cars, the S6, M5 and XFR. We still believe this. Now, a new report from Motor Trend

A lot is going on in the Chrysler-Fiat world today, as the company is announcing strategic 5-year plans for its United States brands. That includes Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Maserati and Fiat. One of the most interesting announcements has come from Maserati though, which has signaled its intention to compete with the BMW 5-Series. Maserati, of course, is best known for its supercars. However, over the years the company has produced vehicles up and down the spectrum. Maserati Biturbo, anyone? In addition, while other exotic manufacturers are just now entering the four-door segment, Maserati has been there all along with the Quattroporte. Now, they look to be taking that formula into a lower market segment - against the Audi A6, BMW 5-Series, and Jaguar XF. We would imagine the

Here's a car that doesn't pop up for sale all that often: A 1960 Maserati Birdcage. This one here will be offered for sale at the upcoming RM Auction in Monaco, and it offers a look back at when sportscar racing really changed. A lot of people know about, or are fascinated with Maserati's Bridcage. Officially called the Maserati Tipo 61, it is more popularly called the Birdcage, due to its spaceframe chassis that seemed to be made up of thousands of pencil thin tubes. It was, in that, and a number of other respects, a fairly conservative and antiquated design. Built by Maserati as a privateer racecar, the Birdcage tipped the scales at just over 1300 pounds. Mounted up front was a 250 horsepower 2.9-liter

With its front-engined Gran Turismo-style coupes (hence the name), Maserati perhaps hasn't got a whole lot of attention lately. Right now if I had to pick a GT, it would be any one of the cars in Aston Martin's range. I like the Gran Turismo, but for some it perhaps lacks the styling panache of Ferrari and definitely Lamborghini. Then again though, they cost less right? One thing that is always great to hear is that Italian exhaust note. Maserati has made some new advertisements for the car that let you hear them a bit. They focus less on the car than I would like, but you can still hear it nonetheless. You might notice them refer to the car as the "GranCabrio" - in international markets that is

SUV's are a category that many of the sports, luxury and supercar manufacturers have pondered entering over the past few years. With the (quite lengthy) craze over, Porsche was really the only one to dare enter the segment - and much to the chagrin of brand purists. Bentley was rumored to have considered it, as well as Aston Martin (instead opting to produce the Lagonda) and Maserati. Maserati even went as far as to show a concept, called the Kubang GT Wagon, which never made it to production. Designer Andrey Trofimchuk Simeonych is now offering his interpretation of what a Maserati SUV could be like. Behold - the Kuba! Normally, the virtual world of designing produces handsomely designed vehicles that go beyond what the manufacturers do

Since the Maserati GranTurismo debuted in 2007, we've been twiddling our thumbs waiting for the drop-top version to appear.  Well, twiddle no more Maserati afficianados, for the GranCabrio is here!  And while it isn't exactly the most shocking thing ever (I mean, it's a GranTurismo without a solid roof, what were you expecting?), it's still a convertible Maserati. A few things worth mentioning about this particular drop-top goddess: unlike most of it's competition, the GranCabrio will use a folding canvas roof, rather than the ever-popular folding hardtop (Merc SL, Cadillac XLR, etc.)  In a break from Maserati tradition, the Spyder's wheelbase remains the same as it's fixed-roof counterpart, which means that it retains it's back seats - however useless they may be.  Previous drop-top Maser's ditched

The Dodge "Viper brand" has been on a whirlwind of sorts as Chrysler trudged it's way through financial difficulties and resulting bankruptcy. There is no doubt that the Viper name and the car is iconic - it has tons of fans around the world and the car has helped be a positive light for the Dodge brand. Chrysler recognized this and thought that they could capitalize on it. As a result, they included it in their list of valuable assets and attempted to sell the "brand." Well that didn't work out so well, with only one lowball offer coming in from Devon Motor Works at $5.5 million. Unsurprisingly, that offer was rejected, leaving the future of the brand in doubt. After that, many people speculated the brand

For some reason, the wait on this car has felt like forever! I've been talking all about it, but it never actually gets here. What can I say that I haven't already said? Yes, Aston Martin I still think you produce some of the most beautiful vehicles in the world and yes the Rapide is already one of my favorites. In all seriousness though, the Rapide is a new entry from Aston Martin in an unusual segment for a supercar manufacturer. Maserati was one of the first to produce a 4-door sedan, with it's pioneering Quattroporte. Aston Martin also produced the Lagonda sedan but other than that, a 4-door has never been a part of the company's lineup. It appears this could be a new battleground for the