http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=11725
I think it's a mistake to create a foreign exotic and put an American engine (in this case a Cadillac V8) in it. A major part of getting an exotic is precisely its engine. Yes, I know "engine prostitution" has been done before: de Tomaso Pantera, neo-Lotus Elan, Lotus Elise, etc.; and yes, I know that the outsourced engine is often better (better made, more reliable, cheaper to maintain) than one from the marque itself. I don't care.
Yeah, the American engine is out of the question. Better an Alfa V6 then a Northstar. Not that there is anything wrong with it... But an Italian car has to have an Italian engine. Why not just put a 3L V-8?
So far they are only using the bottom end of the GM V8s. While there is talk about the Northstar at this point my understadning is that it will be a ALFA engine with the bottom end using GM.
Way to completely **** over your brand image, Maser! Maserati's going to try to make it along the BMW/Audi/Etc lines. They won't. They'll be overpriced and [comparitively] unreliable and unrealistic [Dealer network?!?!]. It's also going to make the appeal of owning a Maserati go down the drain. I'll see 20 of them on my way to school each day. It won't have that exotic engine with amazing sound, either! Plus, current owners will be pissed, because they're once "Exclusive" car is now dime-a-dozen trend whore. This would make an excelent book, "How Not To Run An Exotic Marque".
Personally I think using the Northstar is a mistake..and whats with 290 hp? If GM is going to give old Alfa a motor give it the LS2 which is lighter...cheaper to manufacturer, smaller dimensions and makes 400hp? I know many people love exotic engines blah..blah..blah but really the LS2 motor kicks some serious @ss for very little money. JMO
(1) This at roughly the same time that Cadillac is about to come out with the hot/supercharged version of its XLR sports car, the XLR-V, which was delayed for a couple of years because Corvette threw a fit about a GM competitor that would blow its doors off. (Now Corvette is about ready to release its own new ZO6, so is not worried any more.) http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2005/08/22/141067.html (2) By the time foreign cars get American engines, the American company often has a better version out for its own stuff. This last happened with the deTomaso/Qvale Mangusta, an Italian bodything with a 2001 Ford Mustang Cobra engine. By the time it was in the showrooms, Ford was selling its Cobras with the next-generation blown engine. (3) Don't throw tomatoes at me, but I think the Chrysler/Maserati TC was a wonderful little car. Beautiful bodywork, sumptuous Maserati interior, and very well-behaved on the road. The trick was to get one of the 5-speeds which had the Maserati-built 4-valve engine rather than one of the weaker automatics with Chrysler (later Mitsubishi) engines. Check it out at: http://www.portholeauthority.com/chryslertc/home.html Sold new, fully-loaded, for about $28K. Sadly it never had much of a chance: Maserati and Chrysler had already broken off their romance before the first TCs began to arrive in the USA, and most Chrysler dealers had no idea how to handle it. (4) Some mixed-marques have been pretty good. Some which come to mind: Lotus Cortina, Fiat Abarth, Shelby Mustang, the TC, Cadillac CTS-V (Corvette engine), etc.
I dont think that Maserati needs to use GM engines. They have very capable people to design their own engines. If they use this GM parts they will delute the brand and I dont think they want it. Lets encourage the Maserati people not source more parts from GM cars.
I'm ok with a small Maserat sports car, like a Miata size birdcage, but not a Cadillac powered small sedan. Ugh, just like Jag diluting the brand with the X-type. As a Maser GranSport owner, they will hear from me, whether they listen or not is another story. Phil
this is a big mistake. and i thought the SUV shebangs concept was a stupid idea. alfa can stay as its own brand, and maserati should be slotted in between. engine should be italian as even one mentioned. didnt jaguar downmarket themselves and got those X-types and S-types? certainly it increases their production but in no way increase the brand image. they should stay focus and give us a good coupe and spyder (may be okay to share platform with the brera but has to have a nice V8, if they have sold the car to ferrari as the dino), and as well as perhaps a V12 QP. a Bambino QP a la 159? no, thank you.
Never gonna happen, if they'll put an Audi engine in a Lamborghini it's over. The economics of the car business dictates cross platforming, much to the chagrin of purists. Automobiles on their way to commoditization just like every other manufactured product on earth. SUCKS!
Just imagine a group of SBC powered Masers running down the highways with Confederate flags in the rear windows, ahh... soooo.... classy! remember the buick motors that appeared in some land rover product for a while?
An earlier report I read suggested that the GM engine will be the base and it will be reworked by Maserati Engineers. Providing they ensure the car is at the top of the market sector - ie competing with the M5 and 540's then I see nothing new in this - it is the same market as the Biturdo was in. If it makes Maser commercially viable then it will be good. The Autocar report also said that Maser have revived the new Coupe / Spyder for release in 2008 and it will still have the Ferrari Based 4.0l V8 - other components such as the AC units and heaters etc will be sourced from Alfa to make manufacutring cheaper. It will be interesting though what this does for Resale values of the Ferrari Engineered cars - these could in the future become quite sought after.
They do? Like who, Ferrari? That link is dead except for support for the existing engine which is too expensive to make the car competitive. That's what this is all about. Technology sharing with a higher volume partner to get the price down. Ferrari is of no help in that approach. But a 290HP Northstar V8 is a mistake and I think the article is probably just early media bunk. I wish there was some techincal Maserati left at Maserati but since the Ferrari takeover that's been eviserated. They'll have to develope again and maybe they are. Let's hope so. I suspect it's all Alfa now. Bob S.
People, don't knock Alfa. For a mass produced manufacturer they have a lot of soul, and their switchgear is now of high quality. Just check out the Alfa RZ/SZ and the Spider and the new Brera and GT and tell me they are not worthy of donating the bits that are not noticable to the naked eye.
The execs are looking at the almighty dollar...NOW. If Maserati eventually crashes and burns then they will toss it. A lot of the people who buy Maserati now, know nothing about it except that it is expensive and cool, and that is good enough for them. If the "suits" can tap into them and saturate the hell out of them while reducing costs (enter GM V8) then that is what I think they will do.
I was just reading the post on the 037 rallye. Got me thinking about what car history and the present auto industry have in common: nothing. Lancia used to be makers of bad a$$ race cars, and now look at them. They are the Lincolns of Italy....sad. Before any history buff tries to blow me out of the water, yes I know they have always made wonderful "Lincoln" style cars. But the race/rally cars were the adrenaline in Lancia's heart.
Bob S: The cooperation between Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Ferrari has been present in previous years. Alfa Romeo, Maserati & Ferrari wil share kwonlege to build cars. The Selespeed system is an example of this, they share the system but has diferent gearboxes.
Guys help me understand something, how can the future Maser coupe be canned, there were so many recent pics of the test mules driving around on what seemed to be a shortened Qp plattform wich would make alot more sense than totaly dumping it????
