New offspring from Maserati marriage
By Mike Kable in Maranello
A NEW four-door sedan will be the first product of the marriage between Ferrari and Maserati, which has just been confirmed in Italy after weeks of speculation.
Both marques are part of Italy's motor racing heritage which has spawned road cars that are the envy of enthusiasts the world over.
The president of Ferrari, Luca di Montezemolo, will head the joint-venture company, in which Ferrari and its parent company Fiat Auto each have a 50 percent shareholding.
While Maserati's existing management has six months in which to determine its future short-term marketing strategy, di Montezemolo left no doubt in the official announcement that priority would be given to a replacement for the top-line Quattroporte range.
The Quattroporte is sold in V6 turbo and 3.2-liter V8 guise.
Di Montezemolo stressed the marque would retain separate identities and ruled out any possibility of a return to motor racing by Maserati, which competed against Ferrari in the 1950s.
Maserati bowed out of Formula One in 1957 after Juan Manuel Fangio won his fifth world championship title in a 250F Maserati -- one of the classic front-engined cars which were displaced in the late 1950s by the new breed of rear-engined racers pioneered by Britain's Cooper Car Company.
Argentine industrialist Alessandro de Tomaso ultimately bought Maserati, which was acquired three years ago by Fiat.
A total of 800 Maseratis were produced last year but the Modena-based company, which has a workforce of 300, is on target to double its output this year of the existing Ghibli and Quattroporte models, which comprise eight V6 twin turbo-charged models.
The Ghibli's prices in Italy for the respective 2.0-liter and 2.8-liter models are US$52,000 and $92,000, while the corresponding Quattroporte models sell for $70,000 and $82,000.
The company's managing director, Eugenio Alzati, 62, will remain at Maserati's helm until the end of this year, when he will retire.
His successor is yet to be named.
Despite the marriage of the two marques, management have said there would never be a situation in which Ferrari and Maserati cars would share showroom space.
Ferrari is almost certain, for cost-efficient reasons, to channel Maserati import and distribution arrangements through its direct subsidiaries in North America (Ferrari's biggest market), Germany and Switzerland.
Di Montezemolo, regarded by many European motor industry observers as a possible successor to the Fiat Group supremo Gianni Agnelli, revealed the Ferrari-Maserati partnership had been forged on May 13, following two years of discussion about the Modena marque's future direction.
He told one Italian newspaper that Maserati would get the benefit of Ferrari's technical and commercial competence, but ruled out any possibility of Maserati utilizing Ferrari engines.
"Ferrari will be a big help to Maserati," he said.
"It's an honor though, because Ferrari and Maserati were great rivals in the 1950s and Maserati is the only Italian car ever to win the Indianapolis 500 classic, with American driver Wilbur Shaw in 1939 and 1940.
"We will do our best to restore Maserati's image to its rightful place.
"Ferrari and Maserati do not compete against each other in the world marketplace.
"Maserati's cars are less expensive and its customers are different to those of Ferrari, so this marriage involves no marketing problems.
"Our first challenge will be laying down the design of a new four-door Maserati.
"It is still undecided at this stage, along with the time of its debut."
Di Montezemolo emphasized there would be no return to competition by Maserati.
"Absolutely not," he said.
"Formula One is so competitive and we could not afford to launch another team."