Why no new Maseratis registered in the US for 1976?

I was talking with some car enthusiasts this weekend about Maserati's history and came to the point that there are 1975 and 1977 Boras and Khamsins, but no 1976s. Why?

What is the story behind that gap? Was it a financial situation? A temporary halt when DeTomaso bought Maserati from Citroen? Was that also when MIE bought existing parts stock and was established? Are there any articles covering the era? Maybe Marc's big yellow book covers those transitional years.. ?

I'm curious..
Thanks,
- Art

 

75/‘76 was a transitional period for Maserati between the receivership from Citroen, the takeover by GEPI and the “sale” to DeTomaso. Coinciding with oil embargoes, Red Brigade, Communist Party’s power in Modena and all of Italy, political turmoil etc. if I remember correctly there was a fire at the factory around this time as well.

as far as the labeling of a car to a specific year, that was pretty much arbitrary in that whatever regulations they were trying to circumvent at the time (usually emissions or safety) Khamsin #1226 labeled as a 77 wasn’t finished until February of ‘78. The last 2 Boras #1046 and #1048 also both designated as ‘77 weren’t finished until October of ‘78.

as far as MIE is concerned correct me if I’m wrong but Frank didn’t start the company until about ‘76. The buyout of parts didn’t happen until after Maserati pulled out of the North American market in around ‘92/93 but before the competition of the sale of Maserati in its entirety to FIAT. Those parts were primarily Biturbo era, the GT era parts were sold years before to Campana of Modena.

 

I think it was solely for US administrative or GEPI reasons.

In 1975-77, Maserati continued to sell cars "normally", mainly because following previous strikes and bankruptcy, there was a large inventory of cars at the factory.

 

A similar thing happened during the Biturbo era. At least in the USA there aren’t any cars designated as 1988.