1998 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder Gst Convertible 2-door 2.0l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2022 Villa d'Este Concours d'Elegance Mega Gallery | The show in pictures

COMO, Italy — Held annually, the Villa d'Este Concours d'Elegance is, in many ways, Europe's version of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. It takes place in a beautiful location, and it brings together an impressive selection of rare and valuable cars. It's a real treat for the eyes, the ears, and, if you're into champagne, the palate. The 2022 edition of the show was no exception: About 50 cars were shipped to Lake Como from over a dozen countries, and it wasn't just the usual suspects. Sure, there were a lot of pre-war cars (including a couple of one-off models), but some of the icons that younger enthusiasts grew up with (like the Lamborghini Countach) were present as well. This year's event was split into eight categories: The Art Deco Era of Motor Car Design, The Supercharged Mercedes-Benz, How Grand Entrances Were Once Made, Eight Decades of Ferrari Represented in Eight Icons, "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday," BMW's M Cars and Their Ancestors, Pioneers That Chased the Magic 300 KPH, And a design award for concept and prototypes. The jury gave the coveted "best of show" award to a 1937 Bugatti 57 S owned by Andrew Picker of Monaco, while the aforementioned classes were won by, respectively: The Bugatti 57 S, shown below, A 1936 Mercedes-Benz 540K Cabriolet, A 1956 Chrysler Boano Coupe Speciale, A 1966 Ferrari 356 P Berlinetta Speciale Tre Posti, A 1961 Porsche 356 B Carrera Abarth GTL, A 1972 BMW 3.0 CSL, A 1989 Porsche 959 Sport, And the Bugatti Bolide concept unveiled in 2020. Winning at Villa d'Este is a big deal: The cars are judged by a panel of highly experienced judges. No one gave me a scoring sheet, presumably out of fear that I'd award points to the late-model Fiat 600 lurking in the parking lot, but several cars that didn't win an award caught my eye. One is a 1934 Bugatti Type 59 Sports, a grand-prix racer that was once owned by King Leopold III of Belgium and that has never been restored — its patina is inimitable. Another is a 1961 BMW 700 RS. One of two built (the other is in the BMW collection), it's a tiny, ultra-light roadster related to the 700 and powered by a 697-cubic-centimeter air-cooled flat-twin tuned to develop 70 horsepower. It won several hill-climb events during the 1960s, and it's one of the rarest cars ever to wear a BMW roundel. Aston Martin's freshly-restored 1979 Bulldog concept was cool to see as well; check out the cassette player integrated into the headliner!

Dealer sues Maserati for fabricating sales numbers

A Maserati dealer with stores in New York, New Jersey, and Florida is suing Maserati North America for allegedly requesting that they inflate sales or receive lower incentives. The plaintiff in this case refused to participate and claims that it unfairly lost profits as a result, according to Automotive News. The lawsuit hinges on a request from FCA that its dealers move vehicles into their test-drive fleet, a practice called punching them. Most stores keep at least one example of each model in their demonstrator fleet. While they don't immediately go to a customer, a punched vehicle appears as a sale for an automaker at the end of the month. This case alleges that Maserati North America told its dealers in September 2014 to punch 2015 Ghiblis, even though the sedans hadn't been delivered yet. As a result, the Italian automaker was able to post an additional 105 sales for the month. Furthermore, the stores purportedly received additional bonuses when they later sold these models to customers, and there was possibly another request to claim vehicles as demonstrators in December 2014, Automotive News reports. Amid rapidly growing global demand, Maserati increased Ghibli and Quattroporte production to 900 cars per week in mid-2014. However, the company had to reverse course in 2015 and cut back shifts at its Grugliasco factory. The launch of the upcoming Levante crossover is expected to bring another boost.

2021 Maserati Quattroporte spied getting ready for another light refresh

Maserati just announced that both the Quattroporte and Ghibli sedans would get Trofeo versions next month, but it looks like the standard Quattroporte is going to get a facelift soon, too. The Quattroporte is on the old side of the spectrum at this point (last refreshed for 2017), and we expect this to be the last refresh before a totally new model is released. From the looks of these spy shots, Maserati is painting the Quattroporte with a very light brush. Camouflage simply covers the front bumper of the white sedan and the rear lights of the black one. Everything else looks identical to the current car, so look for an updated front bumper, grille and lights with this refresh on the exterior. The vast majority of changes coming to the Quattroporte are likely going to be those we can’t see.  Look for updated tech in the infotainment system and instrument cluster. ItÂ’s generally made up of tech borrowed from FCA now, so an update from the parent company could help the Quattroporte keep pace with its luxury competition. Expect minor updates with additional features and possibly a number of additional driver assistance technologies.  WeÂ’re still unsure if Maserati will update the engine lineup. Right now you can choose between a couple of boosted engines, one a V6 and the other a V8. When the Trofeo comes, we expect the new flagship will offer the same power as the Levante Trofeo with its Ferrari engine. The Quattroporte maxes out at 523 horsepower now, and if nothing else changes, the Trofeo would bring it up to 590 horsepower. Assuming the Trofeo debuts sporting the facelifted styling, we donÂ’t have long to wait for the full details on what weÂ’d assume is the 2021 model year car. Maserati says itÂ’s revealing the Trofeo on August 10, so check back in for the full details on that car and the Ghibli Trofeo. Related video: