MoneywebDrive: Feature
... here in South Africa the cars born under the sign of the
Trident had gained increasing acceptance as a very
desirable alternative to more strongly touted marques
The news that Maserati was
going its own way after nearly
two decades under the wing
of big daddy Ferrari caught
the assembled journalists by
surprise when it was let slip at
an unrelated media conference in Gauteng a couple of
months back.
Prior to Ferrari-patronage, the
brand had suffered for a few
decades through lack of funding, but here in South Africa the
cars born under the sign of the
Trident had gained increasing
acceptance as a very desirable
alternative to more strongly touted marques, such as the afore
mentioned cars from Maranello,
Aston Martin, and Porsche.
ly-strung Biturbo (which was
available here in very small numbers) were forgotten as Maserati
brought out a string of ever-desirable GT coupes starting in
the late ‘90s, and more latterly
the Quattroporte, a model that
has a history going back to the
late 1950s. In 2005 Maserati, under the previous Viglietti Motors
stable, successfully launched
the fifth-generation Quattroporte here (the name means
“four doors”) and now with
the sixth-generation Quattroporte on sale, MoneywebDRIVE
was keen to see how the large,
stretched sedan shaped up, and
at the same time, discover what
the future holds for Maserati here
as a stand-alone brand.
The years of obscurity from the
days of the pretty but high-
A first visit to the brand new
showroom in Bryanston on Wil-
4
liam Nicol Drive, within a shout
of its arch-rivals Lamborghini
and just across the road from
the new Ferrari headquarters,
brought a pleasant surprise.
Despite signage and décor
for the new showroom still “a
work in progress” the mood
amongst sales people and all
staff members encountered
w