Maserati

Maserati, the luxury car maker from Italy, was established in Bologna in December 1914. The company is now headquartered in Modena, and it has been owned by Fiat S.p.A since 1993. Maserati was originally connected with Ferrari, but in recent years, it has become part of the Alfa Romeo sportscar group. The Maserati is known by it’s trident emblem and quality construction. In this guide, you will learn a little more about the history behind the Maserati brand.

Maserati started with five brothers: Ernesto, Ettore, Carlo, Bindo and Alfieri Maserati. They were all in some way involved with cars, from the start of the 20th century. Ernesto, Bindo and Alfieri built Grand Prix cars for Diatto, who suspended production in 1926. That suspension led to the building of the first Maserati-branded car, and the brand was born. One of the earliest Maseratis, which was driven by Alfieri, won the Targa Florio in 1926. After that, Maserati started building race cars with either a 4, 6, 8, or 16-cylinder engine (the 16-cylinder was actually two V8s in line with one another). The Maserati trident is believed to be the work of Mario Maserati, and it’s thought to be based on a similar emblem on Italy’s Fontana del Nettuno. Alfieri died in 1932, but three of the other brothers kept the tradition going, and built cars that won races wherever they were entered.

In 1937, the rest of the Maserati family sold their stake in the company to the Orsi family, who in 1940 moved the headquarters to their present-day location in Modena, Italy. The Maserati brothers stayed on in engineering positions, and had continued racing success even against stiff competitions from Mercedes and Auto Union. In 1939 and 1940, a Maserati won the Indianapolis 500, the only time an Italian car maker has won the race. However, WWII put a stop to the racing success, as Maserati stopped making cars in order to produce items needed by Italy during the war. During the war, Maserati worked on building a 16-cylinder “town car” for Mussolini, trying to build it before Volkswagen and Ferry Porsche built a similar car for Adolf Hitler. The project was a failure, and once the war was over, Maserati was back to doing what it does best- making cars.

Since the beginning of 2002, Maseratis are again being sold in the United States’ various markets, and the US is the single biggest market the car maker has. Maserati has also gotten back on to the racing scene with the Trofeo, and in the end of 2003, the MC12 started its streak of successes. The MC12 was originally called the MCC, and it was created according to FIA GT standards, to compete in that championship series. It won three times consecutively, from 2005 to 2007. The MC12 is heavily based on the Ferrari Enzo Hypercar, and it has also seen success in a few GT series, as well as the American Le Mans series. About fifty street-legal versions of the MC12 have been sold, at a price of roughly $700,000 each. Since 1914, Maserati has placed equal emphasis on style and speed, and they continue that proud tradition to this day.