ITALIAN SPORTSMAN; Maserati offers up a Sport GT option for its Quattroporte.(News)

Byline: Roger Hart

Few car companies can get away with inviting journalists to fly halfway around the world to spend a couple of days driving what is essentially a tarted-up two-year-old model. But when the car company's name ends in "i'' and the invitation is to visit Modena, Italy, well, you go.

But first, some background. Maserati introduced its top-of-the-line Quattroporte to much critical acclaim nearly two years ago ("Four the Italian Way,'' March 29, 2004). The elegant four-door (hence the name Quattroporte) shape from Pininfarina exudes the sexiness one expects from a car with an Italian lineage. Beneath the hood beats a 4.2-liter V8 built at the Ferrari shop down the road in Maranello. So as far as Italian street creds go, the Quattroporte is loaded.

But a lot has changed for Maserati since the car's launch. Maserati was joined at the hip with Ferrari when the Quattroporte was introduced. While the company still has a strong relationship with the Prancing Horse, Maserati is now functioning on its own beneath the large umbrella of the Fiat group. Two years ago Maserati had a technology-sharing agreement with Audi, but that has gone by the wayside, too. Maserati is now working closely with Fiat sibling Alfa Romeo.

A new leader has taken over at Maserati-Karl Heinz Kalbfell, the man BMW tapped to relaunch the venerable Rolls-Royce marque, is now in charge.

"This is a sound company,'' Kalbfell said. "The significant work done by Ferrari is evident [Ferrari building the engines, for example]. It's very impressive, and we're on our way to further progress.''

That progress means a couple of things in Kalbfell's mind. One, of course, is sales, where the Quattroporte is playing a big role. In 1998, suffering from a weak model lineup and an even weaker reputation for quality, Maserati sold just 518 cars. Last year, through 281 dealers in 57 countries, Maserati sold 5654 cars. While that number is a smudge on most automakers' annual sales charts, it is huge for a company that churns out 25 mostly hand-built cars per day (16 Quattroportes and nine Coupes/Spyders).