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Maserati Fuoriserie customization program arrives in the U.S.

Furioserie means "custom-built" in Italian, and luxury automaker Maserati introduces the word to U.S. and Canada with its Fuoriserie customization program. Now, this isn't custom custom, the way one would order a one-of-one Ferrari. It's more like Maserati's version of BMW Individual or Mercedes-Benz designo, opening access to new styles and colors, but doing so with the starting point of three themed collections. We're not given too many details about how details distinguish the themes, but the Corse collection focuses on the brand's racing heritage, using "innovative pigments" to re-create historically accurate colors, and including "original components" (what other kind are there for an OEM?). Unica, which means "unique," serves fans of contemporary fashion, art and culture with color and materials palettes that look forward to next year's trends. Futura goes on ahead of the others, highlighting "an appreciation for technology and new materials" that balance performance with sustainability from the worlds of product design, interior decor and sportswear. As examples of what can be done, Maserati created three Fuoriserie vehicles. The Corse-dressed Ghibli Trofeo adopts a livery recalling the Maserati Birdcage in Trofeo Blu, with 21-inch dark Orione ("orion") wheels red brake calipers outside, black and grey sport seats with the brand's Zegna Pelletessuta leather coverings and gloss carbon macro twill trim inside. We're not sure which collection the Orange Zest Metallic Levante Trofeo with its 22-inch Orione wheels pulls from, but it's got a full grain black leather interior with contrast stitching in a "living coral" hue. The Quattroporte Trofeo gets Verde Royale Metallic exterior paint, a set of 21-inch Orione wheels with black brake calipers, and the same Zegna-dressed sport seats and gloss carbon macro twill trim. There's a survey Fuoriserie shoppers can take to find out which collection matches their personality. And that's only a starting point, Maserati saying that salespeople will work with the customer "to determine [the customer's core values" and so create an appropriately representative car.  Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

A car writer's year in new vehicles [w/video]

Christmas is only a week away. The New Year is just around the corner. As 2014 draws to a close, I'm not the only one taking stock of the year that's we're almost shut of. Depending on who you are or what you do, the end of the year can bring to mind tax bills, school semesters or scheduling dental appointments. For me, for the last eight or nine years, at least a small part of this transitory time is occupied with recalling the cars I've driven over the preceding 12 months. Since I started writing about and reviewing cars in 2006, I've done an uneven job of tracking every vehicle I've been in, each year. Last year I made a resolution to be better about it, and the result is a spreadsheet with model names, dates, notes and some basic facts and figures. Armed with this basic data and a yen for year-end stories, I figured it would be interesting to parse the figures and quantify my year in cars in a way I'd never done before. The results are, well, they're a little bizarre, honestly. And I think they'll affect how I approach this gig in 2015. {C} My tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015 it'll be as high as 73. Let me give you a tiny bit of background about how automotive journalists typically get cars to test. There are basically two pools of vehicles I drive on a regular basis: media fleet vehicles and those available on "first drive" programs. The latter group is pretty self-explanatory. Journalists are gathered in one location (sometimes local, sometimes far-flung) with a new model(s), there's usually a day of driving, then we report back to you with our impressions. Media fleet vehicles are different. These are distributed to publications and individual journalists far and wide, and the test period goes from a few days to a week or more. Whereas first drives almost always result in a piece of review content, fleet loans only sometimes do. Other times they serve to give context about brands, segments, technology and the like, to editors and writers. So, adding up the loans I've had out of the press fleet and things I've driven at events, my tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015, it'll be as high as 73. At one of the buff books like Car and Driver or Motor Trend, reviewers might rotate through five cars a week, or more. I know that number sounds high, but as best I can tell, it's pretty average for the full-time professionals in this business.

Maserati to cap output at 75,000 cars

Maserati appears set to take a page out of corporate sibling Ferrari's playbook with the possibility that it may cap global annual output in the coming years. Ferrari announced in 2013 that it would limit itself to 7,000 vehicles a year to maintain exclusivity, and so far, it has stuck to the plan.
According to an unnamed Maserati executive speaking to Reuters, the Italian luxury car maker wants to cap its sales to 75,000 vehicles a year. However, it's hardly there yet. The company doesn't forecast reaching that production benchmark until 2018.
Dave Sullivan, an auto industry analyst for AutoPacific, thinks that limiting sales could be a smart move for Maserati. "If it is profitable at 75,000 and doesn't require a significant investment in capacity to get there, this appears to be sound," he said to Autoblog via email. "Alfa Romeo is intended to be the volume brand and by capping Maserati, it means that even if you opted to buy the 'entry level' Ghibli, you still have a level of exclusivity."