The evolution of Maserati Quattroporte
Today a lot of car marques are consider their 4-door coupes as hot commodities. Mercedes-Benz hit it off with the CLS. Other brands like Volkswagen, Aston Martin, and Porsche are also locked on their goals to meet the demand of Quattroporte lovers.
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 4th 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.
