Maserati fans queue up to play GranTurismo

MORE than 100 Australian customers – many of whom have already placed deposits for Maserati’s new flagship – were treated to an invitation-only preview of the GranTurismo coupe at the Sydney Opera House last Thursday night.

The GranTurismo made its global debut at the Geneva motor show in March but will not be inspected by the Australian public until next month’s Sydney motor show. First deliveries begin earlier than the expected – another month later, in late November.

Globally, the GranTurismo is now completely sold out for 2007 and Maserati is now taking orders for delivery well into 2008, despite the fact Maserati has built more cars than were first planned. The original plan was to deliver 1400 cars by the end of this year.

Last week’s lavish private event, which was co-hosted by actor, model and presenter Erika Heynatz and Maserati Australia and New Zealand general manager Edward Butler, kicked off with an Italian-themed dinner at Bennelong’s exclusive Guillaume restaurant.

As previously reported, the GranTurismo is based on a new, Quattroporte sedan-derived platform that makes it bigger and more advanced than Maserati’s GranSport coupe.



At around $300,000, it is expected to be priced well above Maserati’s entry-level model, the 287kW Coupe GT ($207,500) and its Cambiocorsa twin ($219,800), as well as the GranSport ($248,500) and even the Quattroporte four-door (from $258,000).

While Maserati’s current sedan and coupe models share their 295kW/451Nm 4.2-litre V8 (which itself is a derivative of Ferrari’s V8), the four-seater grand touring two-door will be powered by a more powerful 303kW 4.2-litre V8, mated to an adaptive automatic transmission.



“Maserati’s long and illustrious history is full of cars that have been amongst the most sort-after cars in the world, but none has drawn so much interest as the GranTurismo,” said Mr Butler. “Within days of the car first being revealed in Europe, we took our first orders and the interest has shown no sign of abating, indeed, as more information has become known, the pace of inquiry has increased.



“Although deliveries do not start until after the public launch at October’s Sydney motor show, so many people wish to see their new car that we have had one flown into Australia specifically for this event and there could be no better venue for this private preview than the Sydney Opera House.”Meantime, on the other side of the world, Maserati whipped the covers off its uniquely styled Quattroporte GT S, which becomes a full-time member of the Maserati line-up in Australia from mid-year.

The GT S is essentially a lower, bigger-braked and bigger-tyred version of the Quattroporte automatic, which was launched here in March and has helped Maserati to lift its revenue by almost 20 per cent over 2006 levels since making its global debut at the Detroit motor show in January.

Along with corporate cost-cutting, the Quattroporte auto has helped Maserati post its first profit (for the second quarter of 2007) since being acquired by the Fiat Group in 1993.

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