1987 Maserati Spyder Convertible, 5 Speed, Fuel Injected, Nardi Steering Wheel on 2040-cars

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Ferrari, Maseratis trashed in Chinese off-road adventure

Ready to cringe? A group of Chinese motorists drove the Sichuan-Tibet Highway in a fleet of Italian cars, fording streams and hopping rocky terrain as they went. Well, they attempted to drive it, anyway. Only five of the cars managed to survive the truly unnecessary ordeal. The trip was reportedly the idea of a wealthy Chinese businessman named Ni Haishan. Haishan was driving the red Ferrari F12, with his employees following in what appear to be 10 Maserati Ghibli sedans. The Maseratis were gifts to his employees, which makes the loss of six of them along the way only slightly easier to stomach. Even the cars that made it to the finish line in Lhasa, Tibet, arrived with some serious damage. The unsurprising fallout included several wheels and tires on the Ferrari, including one wheel that took the studs it was attached to with it. As you can see above, the "highway" route was not exactly suited to these particular cars. There is some precedent for a car from Maranello driving to Lhasa, however. In 2005, Ferrari sent two 612 Scagliettis on a tour of China called "Ferrari 15,000 Red Miles" with various journalists at the wheel. That journey started and ended in Shanghai and took the cars all over the vast country, including two crossings of the Gobi Desert, along the Great Wall, and on some of Marco Polo's route. Of course, it also involved a lot of planning, a huge support team, and at least a modicum of common sense. All of this was supposedly Haishan's way of showing the world that business is good for him and that customers should trust their money with him. We might conclude otherwise based on the results. If you absolutely have to run this road in something Italian and expensive, may we suggest a Maserati Levante next time? Related Video: Image Credit: news.163.com Auto News Ferrari Maserati Coupe Luxury Performance Sedan ferrari f12 berlinetta maserati ghibli

2022 Maserati Levante Trofeo Road Test | Paint the town red

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- It’s a transitional moment for Maserati and many of its contemporaries. WeÂ’re on the precipice of an electric future that is taking shape but not yet reality. Until that day comes, weÂ’re taking our final laps in things like the 580-horsepower Levante Trofeo. Dripping in attitude, sharp design and packing an engine that sounds ready for Imola, this Levante recalls everything Maserati has done well over its 108-year history, which predates Ferrari by three decades. Except for the sport utility body style, this vehicle could have been built by Maserati in almost any era. In 2022, however, itÂ’s not a template. Maserati will replace the Ferrari-built V8, like the one under the hood of my test vehicle, with its in-house Nettuno V6, a 600-hp twin-turbo engine that is MaseratiÂ’s biggest engine project in decades. Ultimately the brand will go all-electric. In the here and now, the Levante Trofeo is an attention-getting vehicle. Even more awe-inducing than the engine, the $17,000 Rosso Magma paint looks like it should come with a parole officer. It's available through the Fuoriserie Corse customization program and is by far the most expensive option on this 2022 Levante Trofeo, which stickers for $173,550. It almost appears iridescent in some lighting. Other add-ons include carbon-fiber paddle shifters ($450), painted 22-inch staggered wheels ($400) and gloss black brake calipers ($500). Being the Trofeo trim, itÂ’s already loaded with the best features from the Modena and GT variants.  This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. This is our first taste of the Levante since Maserati reshuffled the trim lineup for 2021. It wears the updated Maserati emblem and Trident, and Trofeo is spelled out in a script that has a vaguely 1980s vibe. Otherwise, this is the Levante weÂ’ve known for several years. It arrived on a bright and unusually cold spring morning, the booming bass of the exhaust note reverberating through my neighborhood. From the back, it cuts a bit of a Porsche silhouette, but up front the shark teeth grille leaves no doubt this is of Italian origin, specifically Maserati. It recalls things like the Alfieri concept, Tipo 60 Birdcage, and for a deep cut, the 1950s A6GCS racer. While the design up front borders on ostentatious, things are more measured in the back, where the roof slopes gently into the curvaceous fenders. Maserati also gets the details right.

Maserati confirms next Quattroporte, Levante will be EV-only

Maserati's lineup will look a lot different in the second half of the 2020s than it does in 2022. The company confirmed that the Levante and the Quattroporte will be replaced by electric models, and it announced that the Ghibli, its entry-level car, will retire without a successor. "What we see in the market is that there is a transition from sedans to SUVs. There is still a very clear demand for sport sedans, but we believe that we can serve customers even better by substituting the Ghibli and the Quattroporte with just one new sport sedan," explained Francesco Tonon, the Italian company's head of product planning, during a press conference. We don't know when the Ghibli will retire yet. Executives aren't worried about losing sales by axing the Ghibli. The long-awaited Grecale crossover scheduled to make its debut online on March 22 will likely become the best-selling Maserati model with relative ease due to its positioning, and it will neatly fill the void left by the sedan at the bottom of the company's range. And, the next generation of the Quattroporte will carry the sedan torch into the 2020s. "We strongly believe that there is a future for the sedan, but probably not for two sedans. One will be enough to meet demand," Tonon noted. It's too early to provide concrete details about the next-generation Levante and Quattroporte. Both are due out in 2025 at the earliest. However, what's already set in stone is that neither car will be available with a gasoline-burning engine. Both will be all electric, all the time. "We are focused on delivering the best EV and the best electric large SUV. There will be no ICE and no PHEVs; just electric," Tonon said.