Intro: Charisma by the bucketload is what denotes the Maserati name. Yet, it is a brand image that might have been too easily squandered and even lost to the motoring world. Yet again, it is a specialist marque that has endured a very chequered history. It is a brand that was steeped in motor sports. The Maserati brothers founded their company on racing and gave drivers like Tazio Nuvolari a model upon which to hang their hats. For various undisclosed reasons, the brothers sold their car company to the Orsi brothers in 1937. They remained with the company for the next ten years, before leaving to set up the OSCA firm. The Orsis relocated the Bologna company to Modena, but in the ten years to 1957 only 137 Maserati road cars were produced. By the mid-1960s, there were no more Maserati racing cars, but the company was vying with Ferrari for supercar status. Yet, the Orsis sold control of the company to Citroen, in France, which also lost interest in the brand and put it into receivership in 1975. Alejandro De Tomaso took the firm over and combined it with his De Tomaso, Innocenti and other brands. The company hit its peak in 1984, with total sales of 6,180 new models. However, it soon slipped back to 2,617 by 1989 and Fiat was sold an initial 49 per cent of the business, finally taking it over completely by 1998. It is in a far less parlous state these days and although it remains as an independent brand, it shares a lot of technology with its sister company, Ferrari. Maserati’s sales figures are included within Ferrari’s end-of-2001 results. |
