2014 Maserati Ghibli S Q4 on 2040-cars

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Marchionne threatens to move Alfa production out of Italy

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne was unsurprisingly frank when asked by reporters about potential investments in Italian manufacturing for Alfa Romeo and Maserati, giving the Italian government the ultimatum, "Italy should decide if they want [Alfa Romeo's relaunch] to happen here or not as Fiat and Chrysler have several alternatives." Them's fightin' words.
Fiat's issue with the government stems directly from its courtroom clashes with the Fiom labor union. The two are currently embroiled in proceedings over longer shifts and shorter breaks, as Fiom has so far refused to sign a new contract citing revised labor laws that it says are anti-union.
According to Bloomberg, Fiat will be spending over $2.5 billion on development of eight new Alfas and six new Maseratis, in a bid to wrest some of the luxury pie away from BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi. But that's only going to happen if the government is willing to play ball and make life easier on Fiat.

Maserati GranTurismo successor to be smaller, fight Porsche 911

The Chevrolet Corvette, Jaguar F-Type and Porsche 911 all belong to a club that shuns the Maserati GranTurismo as an outsider. You see, those three key sports cars all measure within an inch of one another in length - 176 to 177 inches and change - while the Maserati comes in at over 192 inches. Naturally, there's extra length between its wheels, as well.
While those extra inches would seemingly pay dividends in interior roominess and storage space, those are not exactly the most important attributes in the segment, which values proper proportions and proper driving feel over all else. All of this is why it comes as little surprise that Maserati is working on a smaller version of its two-door sports car platform when the next generation is ready in roughly three years.
According to Motor Trend and echoing rumors we've heard in the past, the smaller model will be known as the Gran Sport while a larger model will still be called GranTurismo in coupe form and GranCabrio in convertible guise. We're told, again, to expect Maserati's new 404-horsepower supercharged V6 engine as standard, while the V8 would still be a possible option.

1967 Maserati Ghibli puts the grand in grand tourer

Motor Tend technical director Frank Markus owns a 1967 Maserati Ghibli, bought back in the early 2000s when "they could be had for Camry money" - now Hagerty values them anywhere from $63,000 to $107,000. The grand tourer designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro outsold the more powerful and less expensive Ferrari 365 Daytona, and the more powerful and more expensive Lamborghini Miura.
Carlos Lago, host of the magazine's Ignition video series, figures it's because of the Ghibli's long-haul comfort and the tractability of its 4.7-liter V8 with 330-horsepower and 330 pound-feet accessed with a five-speed manual, even though he cites the powertrain and suspension as being behind the times.
There's no arguing about the Ghibli's sound, though. You can get several ears-full of it, as well as Lagos' and Markus' thoughts on the car, in the video above.