It was not only beautiful, expensive and luxurious, but also very fast. Did you know that Leonid Brezhnev also had an Italian dude?
The idea to build a nimble sedan is said to have come to Maserati thanks to journalist Gino Rancati, the end of the 1960s was ideal for such a project thanks to the economic recovery. The beautiful fairing of the car was supplied by Pietro Frua, and the eight-cylinder Tipo AM 107 with an output of 194 kW (264 hp) provided a real pull. The engine could be combined with either a five-speed manual from ZF or a three-speed Borg Warner automatic. Although the car weighed 1,650 kilograms, it was fast (for its time) up to – the manufacturer stated that it could handle 230 km/h. The premiere took place at the Turin Motor Show on October 30, 1963.
Thanks to its advantages, it almost immediately became the choice of important businessmen, artists and generally people from better society. There was a lot of interest, however, Maserati initially considered the Quattroporte project as an image matter, so only one car was produced on the line per day. The price was 6,230,000 lire, for which you could buy at least thirteen Fiat 500s at the time.
The car was purchased, for example, by the Monaco noble family, religious leader and businessman Aga Khan IV, director Sergio Leone, actor Marcello Mastroianni or Peter Ustinov, who used a Maserati until old age. Small pearl – in 1968, the Italian Communist Party donated one specimen to the General Secretary of the CPSU Leonid Brezhnev.
The second generation existed only in the form of thirteen prototypes, it appeared in 1974 at the Paris Motor Show, but on the one hand there were problems with the development of the body and on the other hand Peugeot (which at that time took over Citroën, which had owned the Italian brand since 1968) considered it unprofitable . Work on the third generation began already in 1975, the body was taken care of by Giugiaro, and Benelli, which bought the brand at the time, together with the newly installed director Alejandro De Tomas, was very interested in reviving the Quattroporte phenomenon. The project with the designation AM 330 went into production in 1979, underwent a major modernization in 1986 and ended only in 1990.
The fourth generation, created during the era of Fiat, had its premiere at the Turin Motor Show in 1994. Technically, it was based on the Biturbo model, the shapes were supplied by Marcello Gandini. You certainly remember the fifth generation, it was produced between 2003 and 2012 and was produced in a large number of approximately 23,000 units. The current model from 2013 has undergone many improvements, offering a number of versions. Now Maserati is following Folgore’s new strategy, according to which all models will have a battery version in two years and will be exclusively electric within seven years.
