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Maserati to halt production for one week in November

When it comes to selling cars, exciting new product is king. This is a fact Maserati is learning the hard way as it struggles to hit aggressive internal sales targets set by its Fiat Chrysler Automobiles ownership. And now a report from Reuters indicates that Maserati will be forced to shutter its Grugliasco plant near Turin, Italy, for one full week in November. Rewind back to 2013 and things were looking really good at Maserati. The brand had rolled out a new version of its four-door flagship, the Quattroporte, a smaller and somewhat more accessible sedan one rung below in the form of the Ghibli, and a new line of twin-turbo engines in both six- and eight-cylinder guises. A sales spike seemed imminent. That's exactly what appeared in 2014, as Maserati topped our end-of-the-year sales chart with a monster 171-percent gain in the United States when compared to the year prior. Like we said, product is king. The first signs of trouble brewing at Maserati rose into our consciousness in January of 2015, as, here in the States, the Italian brand took a monster nosedive in sales. That month's 20-percent decline would prove no anomaly, as February's 43-percent decline would attest. For the next few months of 2015, sales remained basically flat as allegations of shady sales accounting practices hit the news. In September, the last month sales data is available, the brand saw a drop of nearly 34 percent. How does Maserati expect to fix its lagging sales? Exciting new product, naturally, this time in the form of the long-awaited, highly anticipated Levante crossover. While Maserati's history is full of grand-touring coupes and four-door sedans, CUVs are all the rage right now. In other words, as long as the Levante isn't terrible, it really ought to bring the brand's sales back to 2014 levels. Following the Levante, Maserati has promised a new coupe based on the design of the Alfieri Concept it showed off at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show, and that will surely bring another hefty dose foot traffic into showrooms as the next product wave. FCA is banking on turning Maserati from a niche player into a meaningful contributor to its sales chart. If that plan has any hope of turning into a reality, it's clearly going to take a lot more shiny new product to make it happen. Here's hoping the Levante is the next positive step in that direction. Related Video:

Maserati MC12 GT1 looks, sounds great storming VIR

Maserati has been celebrating its 100th anniversary all year, but recent visitors to Virginia International Raceway might have gotten to see one of the coolest highlights of the whole centenary. The brand took its already amazing MC12 GT1 racer and painted it up to commemorate its 100th birthday, dubbing the model Maserati MC12 GT1 Centenario. That would be neat enough, but the spectators at VIR actually got to watch and listen to this special edition racecar lap the track with its spectacular exhaust note singing a fantastic tune.
It's rather rare to see these beastly V12 racers on track in the US these days, but they were quite successful in FIA GT1 competition in Europe several years ago. The sound that they make perfectly matches those purposeful, low-slung looks. Switch this video into HD and turn up the speakers to experience a look at this fantastic racecar.

2014 Maserati Quattroporte to get twin-turbo V6

As we wait for the Detroit Auto Show to get our up-close and in-depth look at the redesigned 2014 Maserati Quattroporte, some details are just starting to emerge about the car's powertrain, but nothing is official just yet. Autocar has posted a first drive of the new Quattroporte, finally spilling the beans about what motivates this sporty and luxurious sedan.
We already knew that the 2014 Quattroporte will offer two engines - a V6 and V8 - but what we didn't know is that both engines will get a pair of turbochargers and direct injection. Previously, we speculated that the smaller V6 would be supercharged, but this 3.0-liter V6 will get turbos instead helping it produce an estimated 410 horsepower. As for the larger 3.8-liter V8, this engine is said to produce 530 horsepower (confirming our previous report) to go with 479 pound-feet of torque; performance specs for the V8 include a top speed of 191 miles per hour and a 0-60 mph time of well under five seconds.
All cars will have a ZF eight-speed automatic transmission, and all-wheel drive will be optional allowing for all of the engine power sent to the rear wheel during normal driving and a full 50/50 split between front and rear axles when needed. As we suspected, the 2014 Quattroporte has grown in size to better compete with the Mercedes-Benz S-Class.