Maserati takes the bold move of tearing the top off of one of designer Pininfarina’s most gorgeous coupes…and the result is astonishing

Just as Porsche attempted to expand the marketplace for ultra-premium sports cars with its SUV/sedan hybrid Cayenne better than ten years ago now, legendary maker Maserati is executing one of its boldest and most unexpected line expansions. In part to celebrate the Modena, Italy-headquartered maker’s 100th anniversary, Mas has unveiled new takes on all three models offered in its U.S. marketplace: the Quattroporte four-door, the all-new Ghibli roadster… and the object of our most fervent and recent attentions, the GranTurismo. Boueyed by the best 2013 U.S. sales in Maserati history (with May of last year registering a 406% increase over the same month of the previous year), company chairman Sergio Marchionne elected to pay particular attention to a variation on the Turismo, in this instance the GranCabrio MC.

The car actually started out as a piece of sacrilege, as Pininfarina’s body styling for the GranTurismo was not originally anticipated to include tearing off its top for a later model, but it was…and the results are gobsmackingly gorgeous. The way the nose dovetails into the front wing is stupefying in its execution, and the rearward swooping lines even managed to make the ostensibly odd looking four seats seem thoughtfully integrated into the whole.

The 4.7 L V-8 is hitched to a ZF six-speed tiptronic transmission, which combine to make plenty of adrenaline all around, but the car manages to be oddly smooth…refined…and not at all in keeping with Maserati’s zany, hair-on-fire reputation. That said, hairdos will be surely mussed by the GranCabrio’s leap from 0 to 60 in 5 seconds and top speed of better than 200 mph, but with an initial investment of $150,000, certain supercar conditions are expected to be met. This one manages to combine those necessities with sex appeal in a manner entirely Italian, and long overdue on these shores.

Benvenuto GranCabrio! •

Maserati of Central New Jersey
816 Rt. 1 North, Edison
855.648.6920 / maseratiofcentralnj.com