2015 Maserati Quattroporte S Q4 on 2040-cars

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Maserati Ghibli GranLusso gets semi-autonomous tech and updated styling

Maserati's littlest sedan is getting a little bit of a makeover in the form a new GranLusso trim for the Ghibli. It will make its official debut at the Chengdu auto show in China, and it mostly consists of aesthetic updates. Up front, the GranLusso gets a grille that has chrome vertical bars in addition to the surround. They also appear thicker and more aggressive. The lower grille has been reshaped, with the outboard openings sweeping up and out, creating more of a smile shape. The headlights are less busy, with a very narrow LED accent strip, and square-shaped projectors. Along the side, the GranLusso gets some badges to tell everyone you got the newest fanciest Ghibli. At the back, the rear bumper has been ever so slightly reshaped at the base. Maserati claims the changes make the car more aerodynamically efficient, but don't give specifics, and frankly we can't imagine the improvement nearly enough to make any real difference to the way the car drives or performs. Styling tweaks aren't the only addition to the GranLusso though. The car will feature some type of semi-autonomous or autonomous driving technology. Again, no specific details were given. We reached out to Maserati for an explanation, and they wouldn't elaborate, saying that there should be more info when it makes its debut at the Chengdu show. No release window or pricing were given either. Related Video:

Dealer sues Maserati for fabricating sales numbers

A Maserati dealer with stores in New York, New Jersey, and Florida is suing Maserati North America for allegedly requesting that they inflate sales or receive lower incentives. The plaintiff in this case refused to participate and claims that it unfairly lost profits as a result, according to Automotive News. The lawsuit hinges on a request from FCA that its dealers move vehicles into their test-drive fleet, a practice called punching them. Most stores keep at least one example of each model in their demonstrator fleet. While they don't immediately go to a customer, a punched vehicle appears as a sale for an automaker at the end of the month. This case alleges that Maserati North America told its dealers in September 2014 to punch 2015 Ghiblis, even though the sedans hadn't been delivered yet. As a result, the Italian automaker was able to post an additional 105 sales for the month. Furthermore, the stores purportedly received additional bonuses when they later sold these models to customers, and there was possibly another request to claim vehicles as demonstrators in December 2014, Automotive News reports. Amid rapidly growing global demand, Maserati increased Ghibli and Quattroporte production to 900 cars per week in mid-2014. However, the company had to reverse course in 2015 and cut back shifts at its Grugliasco factory. The launch of the upcoming Levante crossover is expected to bring another boost.

Maserati Tridente by Vita Power First, Um, Cruise Review: Today on Aquablog

LAKE MAGGIORE, Italy — MaseratiÂ’s Trident logo gets three-pronged inspiration from the famous fountain of Neptune in Bologna, where the automaker got its start in 1914 before packing up and moving to Modena. And a symbol that denotes mastery over the water is appropriate for the all-electric motorboat that floats us in style around ItalyÂ’s Lake Maggiore. Beckoning dockside, the Tridente is a 10.5-meter superyacht tender, the boat that takes you to a bigger boat. But itÂ’s also fine for swanky solo cruises on lakes or ocean coasts, with a roughly 50- to 70-kilometer range (31 to 43 miles). The design collaboration between Maserati and Vita Power, a marine tech company founded in 2017, features a fast DC charging system that Vita claims as an industry first. To make that practical, Vita has been creating charging infrastructure in key locales, including along the French Riviera, San Francisco Bay, New York and a plug here in Lake Maggiore, about an hour north of Milan. We hop aboard the Tridente, the aforementioned logo emblazoned on a bow deck formed from ribbed composite. The molto bene motorboat features a carbon-fiber hull that helps hold a total weight around 5 tons. As with automobiles, thatÂ’s decisively more mass than a comparable ICE-powered boat, thanks to a 250-kilowatt-hour battery pack thatÂ’s big enough to make a Hummer EV blush. We depart the dock and head for Isola Bella, an island that floats a 17th-century palazzo — a summer home for the aristocratic House of Borromeo, which produced several cardinals and one pope — and a baroque Italian garden of over-the-top splendor. I take a spot on a wide, comfy daybed near the stern, and experience the key talking point of any electric watercraft: A welcome lack of diesel or gasoline stink wafting over passengers — notoriously amplified should one experience seasickness — and the ability to hold a conversation without shouting over an ear-rending marine ICE powertrain. Of course, that also means no rainbow petroleum slicks floating in your wake and despoiling the marine environment. Our pilot makes sure IÂ’m hanging on before he punches the throttle, backed by a pair of generous screens that display everything from nav charts to Netflix. Despite its weight, the Tridente proves a punchy beast. A twin-prop arrangement and proprietary control software allows anywhere from 100 to 600 horsepower.