In Italian, Quattroporte literally means four doors. A special car was commissioned by Prince Kharim Aga Khan to the design house of Pietro Frua that really started it all.

Maserati debuted their first Quattroporte in 1963. This caw was fitted with a V8 4.1L engine that produced 256 horsepower mated with a ZF manual gearbox. This first generation Quattroporte was able to hit 143 mph for its top speed.

The second generation was developed during a period when Citroen was in control of the Italian car marques. The car was conceptualized by Bertone but the car’s power decreased to 210 horsepower as it used a V6 3.0L powerplant. That is the bad side of the coin. The good side is the rarity of this Maserati Quattroporte generation since only 13 units were produced. Six of these were prototypes, so only 7 were considered production units.

The next generation Quattroporte was during the time of Alejandro De Tomaso used the design lines of ItalDesign Giugiaro. This car was unwrapped during the Turin motor show of 1979. The car was fited with a V8 4.9l engine that can give out 280 hp.  Between 1970 through 1990, the car manufacturer was able to rollout 2110 units.

The Quatrroporte 4^th generation is an evolution of the 400-Series cars of Fiat which took control of Maserati back in 1993. Two variants were offered, one had a 284 hp V6 engine and another was more aggressive with 326 hp V8 powerplant. None of the 2375 specimen made it to the US soil.

The current generation Quattroporte is considered to be the greatest of the brood. It follows the sleek design lines of Pininfarina and roars with a 400 horsepower V-8 engine.

This engine was designed for a velocipede. Later on this engine was manufactured in a motorcycle plant belonging to Marchese Carcano di Anzano de Parco. Later on when Carcono closed down Carlo joined Fiat in the position of a mechanic. He left Fiat in 1903 and joined Isotta Fraschini to work as a test driver and mechanic. He also helped his 16 years old brother, Alfeiri, in joining this company. Alfeiri founded Maserati and the first headquarters of this company was set up in a rented space at Via de Pepoli, a district of Bologna, in 1914. Alfeiri passed away in 1932, but his brothers carried on the legacy of Maserati cars. Bindo along with Ettore and Ernesto developed a 8-cylinder 3-liter engine.

Eulberg cites a survey conducted by an insurance company in Britain where subjects’ reactions where measured after hearing a revving Lamborghini, Ferrari, Volkswagen, and a Maserati. It showed 100% of the subjects had increased saliva level after hearing the roar under the hood of the Maserati.

The CEO who also held position at BMW, Jaguar, and Volvo, looks at the reliable performance and styling of the Maserati making it attractive to anyone looking for cars. The US sales of the car manufacturer are up by 11% from January to November of 2008.

The brand was able to remain tough amid the financial crisis. It also survived despite the fact that they only have two models in the market which are both selling for over $120000. They have improved the sales figure of the Quattroporte sedan and the Gran Turismo coupe from 853 units in 2002 to 2520 in 2008.

Despite small allocation for advertising, Eulberg foresees a good 2009 for the Maserati range. Last year, they had an interactive campaign where readers of GQ can download the sound of the Maserati engine as a ring tone. Maserati also takes advantage of direct mail opportunities and the internet to push their brand up in the market.

The North America CEO does not want to disclose plans of Maserati to introduce new cars in the market but the company has a technical partnership with Fiat’s sister line Alfa Romeo. At the soonest, they may use the available technology to come up with new vehicles by 2011.

Of the seven Maserati brothers who formed the Maserati company, Carlo had also taken a part in the 1907 Coppa Florio. He was driving a Bianchi car in this race and came seventh despite stiff odds. The low voltage ignition breaker arms were the root cause of the problem and Carlo had to stop a number of times for replacing these low voltage ignition breaker arms.

Later on he replaced the low voltage system with high voltage systems and this helped to resolve the problems. At the Targo Florio Alfeiri raced a car that was manufactured by Maserati and this was the first production car by this company. This event took place in the year 1926. Of the other cars designed by the Maserati brothers, the type 26 was the most successful ones and this model had won many car races. Now, they mainly make luxury cars — but yes, Maserati has some great racing pedigree!