Maserati Repair and Service PDF Manuals
In 1914, an Italian company was founded, named after the names of three brothers, who founded a small workshop, on the basis of which the company was founded - Maserati. In the same year, Mario Maserati, who was engaged in art and did not see himself as an engineer, saw a statue of Neptune on the square of Bologna. This is how the brand emblem appeared, which later became the company's trademark.
In 1926, with the financial support of the Diato company, the first car of its own design by Maserati was created, which was a sports coupe with power units with 4, 6 and 8 cylinders. In the same year, Maserati's most powerful model, the Grand Prix 1500, won numerous sporting events throughout Italy. It was thanks to the success of the first sports model of the brand that the Maserati brothers completely transferred their production towards sports cars. In 1929, the Maserati Type was introduced, equipped with a four-cylinder engine.
However, by 1937, the young company experienced a serious crisis and was sold to the Orsi family of industrialists, who retained their posts for the Maserati brothers. In 1940, the company moved to the city of Modena, where in just 3 months a new model was developed for participation in the Indy 500 racing competition, which immediately submitted to the Italian company.
During the Second World War, unlike other Italian automakers, by order of Mussolini, Maserati began to develop a luxury car for Benito himself, and one of the project leaders was Ferdinand Porsche, who had already managed to create a number of cars for the leadership of the Third Reich ...
After Italy's withdrawal from hostilities, Maserati resumed production of sports cars, presenting the Maserati A6, equipped with a sixteen-cylinder power unit. In addition, the brand's engineers began to actively develop cars for Grand Prix racing, which preceded the modern Formula 1. However, after the founding of this most prestigious racing championship today, the Maserati factory team became one of its first participants. From 1950 to 1960, the team was actively fighting for victories, having won a landslide victory in 1957 with Juan Manuel Fangio, who became the five-time world champion. However, due to the rapid decline in sales of serial cars, Maserati is scaling down its participation in racing competitions and concentrating on the development of new models. In the same year, the Maserati 3500GT was introduced.
In 1968, the Maserati company was sold to the French brand Citroen, which retained the leadership positions for the Orsi family. However, a serious modernization of production and a change in the company's policy was carried out.
In the same year, the Maserati Indy 2 + 2 model was introduced, and the production of the brand's engines came under the control of Citroen engineers. The next model of the brand was Maserati Bora, which entered the automotive market of the United States of America and Great Britain. In 1975, another experiment with an eight-cylinder power unit presented the latest model "Maserati", developed under the leadership of the French concern "Citroen", so Maserati Kamsin was presented, which had a 4.9-liter V8 engine.
After the outbreak of the global oil crisis, Citroen, which had previously experienced financial problems, got rid of the no longer profitable Maserati division, which led to stagnation in the Italian brand. This was followed by 18 years of leadership of the wealthy industrialist Alexandro De Tomaso, who tried to create a number of new cars, but not using his own technologies, but using the developments of other companies, including the American Chrysler. At this time, talented specialists such as Aurelio Bertoki came to the company, who were able to develop worthy models, one of which was the legendary Quattroporte 3 generations, the design for which was developed in the Giugiaro studio.
In 1993, the Maserati company was sold to the largest Italian carmaker, FIAT, which decided to expand its production to the largest in Europe, and this required another premium brand. In 1996, the Maserati Quatraporte IV was presented, equipped with a power unit developed by another FIAT division - Ferrari. A year later, it was in the Ferrari that Maserati was included, which served as the key to the revival of the brand.
Under the leadership of Ferrari's CEO Luca di Montezemolo, Maserati's production facilities were modernized. And also the new model 3200 GT, presented in the same 1998, saw the light. Under the hood is a Ferrari-98 engine, a derated engine for Formula 1 racing, and the design of the model was developed by the ItalDesign studio.
The entire model range of Maserati is gradually being updated, and in 2004 the MC12 model was presented, built on the basis of Ferrari Enzo. The new hypercar from Maserati took part in a whole series of sports competitions, and also goes into serial production with a circulation of 25 cars annually.
In 2009 the company presented a unique development - the first 4-door convertible GranCabrio. It was equipped with a 4.7 liter engine and had an aluminum body. Visitors to the Frankfurt Motor Show were the first to see it.
This was followed by a slight lull, which was interrupted by the release in 2011 of the concept car of the first off-road vehicle Maserati Kubang, built on the basis of Jeep Cherokee, since the Chrysler concern came under the control of the FIAT brand. Under the hood of the SUV there is a power unit from "Ferrari".
At the beginning of 2012, it became known about the upcoming release of the new Maserati Quattroporte, the presentation of which was planned by the company in 2013. There is information that the car will be released in two versions at once - a sports car and a sedan. In March, it became known about another upcoming new product - GranTurismo Sport, which Maserati will show at the Geneva Motor Show. The management shared their plans for the next few years. According to their hopes, the production of cars should have increased significantly, as evidenced by the regular presentations of concepts and updated models. Maserati decided to become the world's best brand, displacing Porsche and other brands from the leadership positions.
Long before the start of the Paris Salon, it became known about the presentation of a new convertible. The Maserati GranCabrio MC car, according to the designers, was considered the most powerful representative of Maserati at that time. Among other things, the company took advantage of the Paris exhibition to unveil its immediate plans. In particular, they talked about the release of three new cars - a crossover, a sedan and an SUV.
An ode of new products was released a few months later - at the Detroit Auto Show 2013. The Maserati Quattroporte has been talked about for several years in the circles of motorists and the release of the model was more than expected. The next promised model - Maserati Ghibli - the company decided to show in Shanghai. As planned by the manufacturers, the release of these two models significantly raised Maserati's ratings and tripled the percentage of sales. Rejoicing in the success, they immediately unveiled the updated Maserati Quattroporte with a diesel engine. The second novelty of this year also did not go unnoticed, having won 5 stars in the Euro NCAP rating and received the Top Safety Pick award in the USA.
The 2014 Geneva Motor Show started as expected with the presentation of new products. The Alfieri coupe, named after the company's founder, was shown. The same year marked the centenary of the company's foundation. To mark such a grand event, it was decided to open an exhibition with 21 cars. Each of them was the best of its kind and symbolized the historical development of the company.
Despite the fact that earlier there was a desire to increase the volume of car sales, in August 2014 it became known that the number of produced models was reduced to 75 thousand per year. Thus, it was planned to leave the status of an exclusive supplier for the brand. At the same time, in January 2015, it became known that the percentage of sales increased significantly compared to 2013. According to rough estimates, the company managed to sell 169% more cars than two years before.
