2014 New Maserati Quattroporte Gts Red Brake Calipers High Gloss Erable Trim on 2040-cars

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The troubled Alfa Romeo Giulia needs serious help [UPDATE]

UPDATE: An Alfa Romeo US spokesman responded to this article with the following statement: The safety concerns expressed in the story are false. The all-new 2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia is designed and engineered to meet or exceed all federal safety regulations. The Alfa Romeo Giulia will begin production for the North American market in the late second-quarter of this year. Alfa Romeo will have a full product portfolio of premium vehicles that includes plans for (8) all-new Alfa Romeo vehicles by 2020. The product launches are prioritized by segment volumes starting this year with the Alfa Romeo Giulia production for North America starting in late Q2, followed by the Midsize-UV – the 2nd largest premium segment in North America. Even on the day you dragged them kicking and screaming and gesticulating wildly to a table full of concrete evidence, Alfa Romeo executives will never admit the Giulia program is going through a tough patch. But it is. Reports say the Giulia, on the eve of production, didn't just fail one internal crash test, but failed the front, side and rear impact tests. Alfa denies it. Automotive News published a report last week saying two suppliers had insisted the Giulia, on the eve of production, didn't just fail one internal crash test, but failed the front-, side-, and rear-impact tests. A third supplier source told us the same thing. Alfa is denying it. It was due on sale in Europe late last year and was supposed to be here in the next month or two. But it wasn't, and it won't. It was to be headlined by a twin-turbo V6 that reportedly howled its way around the Nurburgring 14 seconds faster than the BMW M3 could manage. That second part is only true if you believe it's fair to compare a full lap in a standard BMW M3 with a favorable accumulation of sector times to a development prototype Giulia with 220 pounds stripped out of it and rolling on hand-cut racing slicks. No, me neither. A Promising Start The Giulia's all-new architecture was developed in just two years by a skunkworks of young engineers headed by Fiat's engineering prince, Philippe Krief, and (bafflingly) sited inside Maserati's headquarters complex in Modena, about three hours from Alfa Romeo's own Turin HQ.

2014 Monterey Motorsports Reunion is a symphony of classic racers

With about 550 classic racecars lapping Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca over the course of the weekend, the Monterey Motorsports Reunion might be one of the largest vintage racing events in the country, maybe even the world. It was certainly one of the highlights of the lavish Monterey festivities last weekend. This year's featured marque was Maserati, which was celebrating its 100th anniversary, and plenty of trident logos could be found on track, ranging from the 250F grand prix car to some of the company's later sports cars. Of course, with 15 groups of classic racers, there was basically something for any motorsports fan. Among the highlights were the Trans-Am race that brought together rumbling hunks of American muscle to jostle for position on track. There was also a fantastic class from the '50s and '60s with Ferraris, Corvettes and even a Volvo P1800 and Toyota S800 racing together. Watching these iconic racers back on track at full pace was just a revelation to see, smell and hear. There were too many fantastic cars to list them all, but feel free to check out Autoblog's huge gallery from Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca to see if you spot your favorite racecars of yesteryear. Featured Gallery 2014 Monterey Motorsports Reunion View 40 Photos Image Credit: Copyright 2014 Drew Phillips / AOL Motorsports Maserati Racing Vehicles Classics Pebble Beach Laguna Seca

Maserati Ghibli pricing announced for UK

Maserati's newest car, Ghibli, is a stunningly well-proportioned luxury sedan mixing the styling of the larger Quattroporte sedan and the GranTurismo coupe. We found it plenty good to in our First Drive review, and now we know how much it will cost (in the UK, at least).
Ghibli pricing announced at the Goodwood Festival of Speed is for customers in the UK, but based on current exchange rates and prices of other Maseratis sold here in the US, we can estimate its MSRP for our market. The base Ghibli, with a twin-turbocharged V6 making 325 horsepower, will cost 52,275 pounds for the Bits, making $75,000 a good guess for American buyers. If that number holds true, however, the Ghibli would be in a price category above its main competition from Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Take a step up to the Ghibli S, sporting a naturally aspirated V8 producing 404 hp, and you'll have to fork out 63,415 pounds or an estimated $91,000 here.
Just for kicks, the Europe-only Ghibli Diesel, which makes 270 hp and 420 pound-feet of torque with its diesel V6, is the least-expensive Maserati 48,830 pounds. Running an estimated $70k for us, we'd really like to have that one, too. After all, the sparkplug-less engine is the same one found in the Jeep Grand Cherokee EcoDiesel.