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Maserati ramping up production of Ghibli, Quattroporte

While Porsche may be relatively new to the four-door game, Maserati has been building the Quattroporte with few interruptions since 1963. But like its rival from Stuttgart, the Trident marque is rapidly shifting from a sports car company primarily to a manufacturer of high-end family transportation. Not only does it have the new Quattroporte on the market, but now it's got the Ghibli sedan as well and the Levante crossover on its way.
It's a gambit that's reaping huge benefits not only for Maserati itself but also for its newly merged parent company Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, which is finding the mass market less lucrative than it once was and is positioning both Maserati and Alfa Romeo against other luxury marques like BMW, Audi and Porsche. As a result, Maserati is considerably expanding its production.
Last month, Maserati sold over 3,000 cars, putting it on track to double its sales from 2013. But it's not about to stop there. With growing demand for its authentically Italian luxury sedans, Maserati is shifting more workers to its assembly plant in the Turinese suburn of Grugliasco (where the QP and Ghibli are made) and shortening vacation time to ramp production up from 750 cars per week to 900.

2020 Maserati Quattroporte S Q4 Driveway Test | Are you louder than a Dodge Challenger?

The 2020 Maserati Quattroporte is an Italian luxury sedan that comes in several flavors. Recently, we've had a couple pass through the Autoblog short-term loaner fleet, and I decided to take the opportunity to record an exhaust clip and see whether it's louder than my 2013 Dodge Challenger SRT8 392.  You thought we were done with this, didn't you? Hah.  The Maserati is a bit of an odd duck. Like the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio, which kicked off this series, it's an Italian sedan powered by a turbocharged V6 producing a respectable 430 horsepower. Unlike the four-cheese, the Quattroporte in our garage was not its high-performance variant. In fact, if it were, it would have a V8, as all things should. I'm kidding. Or am I? Sadly, the V6 probably holds the S Q4 back in this particular "test," which resulted in a reading of 78.2 decibels. That's far short of my Challenger, which checked in at 85.7 dB and remains our reining champion ... for now.  The Quattroporte is in reasonably decent company, though, thanks to the Porsche Cayenne S Coupe, which produced a similar result. Yeah, that's an SUV, but this is a luxury car, right? So the missions are similar. Heck, they even make about the same power.  These tests are only vaguely scientific, and I conduct them using a free Android OS sound-measuring app and the mostly enclosed space of my personal garage. For those who are unfamiliar with my methodology (and again, I use that term somewhat loosely), you can refer back to my previous tests with the Alfa or the Cayenne S Coupe for more details.  Or, just click the pretty links to hear engines go burble-burble; it's entirely up to you.  Disclaimer: Autoblog accepts vehicle loans from auto manufacturers with a tank of gas and sometimes insurance for the purpose of evaluation and editorial content. Like most of the auto news industry, we also sometimes accept travel, lodging and event access for vehicle drive and news coverage opportunities. Our opinions and criticism remain our own — we do not accept sponsored editorial.

Gary Cooper's 1935 Duesenberg SSJ fetches record price at Pebble Beach

The 1935 Duesenberg SSJ formerly owned by Gary Cooper sold for a jaw-dropping $22 million over the weekend at the Gooding & Co. Pebble Beach auction, setting a record for the most valuable pre-war car ever sold at auction. It also appears to have become the most expensive American collector car ever sold at auction, eclipsing the very first Shelby Cobra ever made, which sold for $13.75 million in 2016. The Duesenberg was also the lone American-made entrant in the list of top 10 sellers, which was crowded with the names Ferrari and Porsche. You have to go all the way down the list to No. 21 to find the next American car: a 1930 Packard 734 Speedster Phaeton, which sold for a mere $1.127 million. All told, Gooding & Co. said it realized more than $116.5 million in auction sales over the weekend, with a whopping 25 cars sold for north of $1 million, an 84 percent sales rate and an average transaction price of $947,174. Clearly this is how the other half 1 percent lives. Gooding & Co. said there were five world-record sales at the auction. Joining the Duesenberg were a 1955 Ferrari 500 Mondial Series II, which sold for $5.005 million; a 1958 Ferrari 250 GT Tour de France Berlinetta, $6.6 million; a 1967 Ferrari 330 GTC Speciale, $3.41 million; and a one-of-two 1966 Ferrari Dino Berlinetta GT, $3.08 million. Oh, and that 1969 Ford Bronco test vehicle we told you about? The one that was rebadged by Holman & Moody as a Bronco Hunter? It sold for $121,000, which was well below the expected range of $180,000 to $220,000. Perhaps it was the presence of all those gorgeous Porsche Spyders and Ferraris that meant collectors weren't interested in boxy, utilitarian off-roaders. View 24 Photos Gooding and Co. had expected the convertible Duesenberg coupe to go for more than $10 million. It was one of only two of its kind built by Duesenberg — the other having gone to Clark Gable — with a specially shortened, 125-inch wheelbase and a supercharged straight-eight with double overhead cams, able to produce around 400 horsepower and a top speed of 140 miles per hour. It features a lightweight open-roadster bobtail body produced by LaGrande out of Connersville, Ind. The car was also owned at one point by race driver Briggs Cunningham.