GranTurismo: Maserati releases details
It’s been a regular Maserati love-in over here these past few days. First we got a teaser sketch of the coupe designed by Pininfarina. Then the Trident marque gave us three images of the stunning new GranTurismo in advance of its Geneva debut. Then we brought you the MC12 XX by Edo Competition. And now Maserati has hit us with the press release for the GranTurismo and an additional profile shot. It must be Christmas time for fans of the house that Alfieri built.
The press release confirms certain details about the stylish new coupe and reveals others. The 4.2-liter V8, derived from the Ferrari-designed engine in the Quattroporte, gets a power spike of 9 horsepower up to 405. It’s driving through a fully automatic gearbox – presumably the new ZF unit recently placed in the Quattroporte – but we’d speculate the paddle-shifted sequential will find its way in their eventually despite the anticipated availability of paddle shifters on the torque-converting auto-box. Weight is distributed, as reported, in an ideal 49/51 rear bias. The styling was penned by Pininfarina’s American wonderboy Jason Castriota, the same guy responsible for the design of the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano and the custom Enzo-based P4/5 one-off.
The GranTurismo’s launch at this year’s Geneva show marks the (approximate) 60th anniversary of the launch of Maserati’s first road car, the original Gran Turismo, which was also designed by Pinin Farina (in an era when words were separated by spaces).
Follow the jump for the press release on the new Maserati at http://www.exoticcarrentalblog.com/wp-admin/post.php!
Tracey on February 24th 2007 in Exotic Car Rental