The Maserati Connection

During the history of Maserati, a number of technical collaborations with other car manufacturers came into existence. Mostly it where other car constructors who benefited from Maserati’stechnical know how.

The best known example is probably the Citroën SM, who resulted from the ownership of Maseratiby the French company. Its all-alloy, quad-cam V6 engine was made by Maserati (tipoC.114) and later in modified versions also used in Maserati’sown Merakand QuattroporteII models. About 13.000 units were produced between 1970 and 1975. This car was for many years the world’s fastest front wheel drive production car.

Maserati’sTipoC.114 engine was also used in the only sports berlinettamade by French car constructor Guy Ligier, the JS2 (named after racing driver Jo Schlesser, who was killed during the French Gran Prix of 1968). The engine was first used in 12-valve and later also in 24-valve configuration, boosting the power to 240 bhp. About 200 units were built between 1972 and 1977.

During the 1980’s, the friendship between then Maseratiowner Alejandro De Tomasoand Chrysler’s boss Lee Iacocca led to the creation of the “Chrysler TC by Maserati”, a convertible that was intended to become Chrysler’s image-building flagship. Maserati delivered know-how and engineered certain components for this vehicle, but despite it had Maseratiwritten on the valve cover, its engine was not a Maseratiunit. 7300 vehicles were produced between 1989 and 1991, all designated for the American market.

More recently, Maserati’sexpertise in the production of limited-series, high performance sports cars was used by group partner Alfa Romeo for its 8C Competizionesports car. A lot of its mechanical components, such as the V8 engine and robotized gearbox, origin from Maserati. Limited production of 500 units started in late 2007 at Maserati’sModena plant and will be followed by another 500 units of a spider version (planned for 2009).

General Information

Introduction

Thisnew generation of Maserati GrandTurismo vehicleswasrungin bythe presentation of the Spyderat the Frankfurt motor show in September2001. Thiswasfollowedlittle later bythe presentationof the Coupéat the Detroit motor show in Januari2002. Bothvehicles presenta completelynew technicallayout asthe resultof the closetechnicalcollaboration withFerrari. Withrespecttothe 3200GT model, the twin turbo enginewasabandonnedin favourof a completelynew, normally-aspirated V8 enginewitha total displacementof 4.2 litres.

Alsothe transmissionwastotallynew. The gearboxwasno longerfixedbehind the engine butwasnowmountedat the rearof the vehiclewhereitformsa single unitwiththe limited slip differential(transaxleconfiguration). The possibility fora traditionalautomatic transmission(asforthe 3200 GTa) wasno longeroffered. Instead, the Coupéand Spyder wereavalablewithbothmanualand robotizedgearbox. The lateroffersthe possibilityto bedrivenin fullyautomaticmode. The manualversionisreferedtoasCoupéGT and SpyderGT, whilethe versionwithrobotizedmanualgearboxiscalledCoupéCambiocorsa and SpyderCambiocorsa.

The Maserati Spyderhas a 220 mm shortenedfloorplanwithrespecttothe Coupéand existsstrictlyasa two-seateronly.

The body lines of the Coupéresemble muchtoitspredecessor, the 3200GT, but the technicallayout iscompletelynew. The boomerang-shapedtaillightsof the 3200GT werereplacedbymore traditional modelledunitsforAmerican homologation reasons.

The Coupéand Spydermodelsintroduced Maserati’s return tothe American market.