2013 Maserati Gran Turismo Convertible, on 2040-cars

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Maserati marks centenary with 50,000th unit at Grugliasco

Maserati is celebrating its centenary this year, but if that wasn't enough of a milestone, the Trident marque has reached another, completing its 50,000th unit at its plant in Grugliasco. Whether 50,000 seems like a lot or a little depends largely on your perspective. Toyota, for example, sold over three times that many cars in the United States alone just this past month. But for Maserati and the Grugliasco plant, it's an awful lot. The plant was acquired not long ago from the failed Bertone coachbuilding operation to bolster the principal site in Modena. It just kicked off production barely two years ago in January 2013 and handles assembly of the Quattroporte and Ghibli – Maserati's top sellers, but hardly what you'd call "volume models" by any means. The landmark 50,000th vehicle was a Quattroporte S Q4 in dark grey with a red and black interior, bound for the US market that's reaching new sales records for the ambitious Mondenese automaker.

Maserati confirms Levante SUV for 2015, Alfieri for 2016

The Maserati share of the big Fiat Chrysler event today was expected to be something of a snooze, at least relative to the very busy Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Alfa Romeo portions. But the truth is there was plenty to pay attention to where the premium Italian brand was concerned. After all, moving from its 15,400 unit sales in 2013 to a target of 75,000 global sales in 2018 is going to take some doing.
One piece of big news is a shakeup in the existing ranks. 2014 will mark the final year of production for the GranTurismo (and its soft-top counterpart), meaning Maserati will be limited to just its Quattroporte and Ghibli sedans until the Levante SUV arrives in 2015, confirming previous reports. The first SUV to wear the trident, the Levante will only be available with all-wheel drive, but it will boast a Porsche Macan-smiting pair of V6s, with 350 and 425 horsepower, respectively.
Things get back to normal in 2016, as Maserati resumes sports car production with a road-going version of the Alfieri Concept from the 2014 Geneva Motor Show. Again, this is confirmation of a previous report. That car will be joined by a convertible variant in 2017. It seems like Maser is taking aim at, well, everything with the Alfieri, offering a 410-hp, V6-powered variant that dispatches its power to the rear wheels, to go along with 450- and 520-hp versions of the Alfieri's V6 that will only get their power to the road through an all-wheel-drive system.

Latin music star Ren? P?rez destroys own Maserati to send kids a message

Can destroying a car be art? That question comes a bit too late for the Maserati Quattroporte seen above. The act depicted is from the music video for Adentro by Puerto Rican hip-hop act Calle 13 new single.
While the video is not yet online, the making-of featurette is available below and shows the luxury sedan getting beat with a baseball bat (and more) by the group's frontman René Pérez. According to Latin Gossip, Pérez wants to send his fans a message not to place too high a value in material objects. The Maserati represents a time in his life of too much excess, it seems...
The guy might have an argument, but it still seems pretty wasteful to destroy a perfectly good Italian sports sedan. We will be curious to see how far the destruction goes, but you can get a peak at it in the video below.