Manufacturer /MANUFACTURERS/MASERATI

Maserati

Founded in Bologna in 1914, Maserati developed from a competition workshop into an Italian maker of luxury grand tourers, sports saloons and sports cars associated with Modena.

Maserati 3500 GT photographed at the Salzburg Stadt Grand Prix in 2013.
A Maserati 3500 GT, identified by its photographer as a 1959 car, at Salzburg in 2013. Photograph by Snotty, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Photograph: Snotty · CC BY-SA 3.0

Bologna origins and the Trident

Maserati is an Italian manufacturer whose history connects competition engineering with luxury road cars. Its founding date is distinct from the appearance of its own cars: Alfieri Maserati and his brothers Ettore and Ernesto began their Bologna business on 1 December 1914; the first Maserati-badged racing car, the Tipo 26, appeared in 1926.

The Tipo 26 won its class at the Targa Florio with Alfieri driving. The Trident emblem, attributed to Mario Maserati, drew on Bologna’s Fountain of Neptune. Racing remained central to the marque’s identity, culminating in Juan Manuel Fangio’s 1957 Formula One drivers’ championship in the 250F. Maserati’s historical account distinguishes these milestones.

From racing cars to grand tourers

The Orsi family took over the business in 1937. Maserati subsequently relocated from Bologna to Modena: histories commonly give 1939, while Maserati’s later account places the move at the end of that year and the opening of the Viale Ciro Menotti plant on 1 January 1940. The A6 1500 introduced in 1947 established its post-war road-car direction. Marque history; Maserati’s chronology.

The 3500 GT of 1957 transformed that direction into a more substantial production business. Its Touring-designed coupé used Superleggera construction, with aluminium body panels over a light tubular framework. A straight-six engine developed from the 350S racing unit connected the grand tourer to Maserati’s competition engineering.

Development was progressive: front disc brakes became optional in 1959, a five-speed gearbox followed in 1960, and the fuel-injected 3500 GTI appeared in 1961. Those features should not be attributed indiscriminately to every 1957 car. The model’s importance lay in establishing a commercially sustainable luxury GT identity, rather than simply transferring a racing car to the road. Maserati’s 3500 GT and GTI archive.

Sports saloons, mid-engined cars and changing ownership

During the 1960s, Maserati expanded beyond its early grand tourers. The Quattroporte brought the marque into the luxury four-door market, while the Ghibli expressed its sporting identity through Giorgetto Giugiaro’s coupé design.

Citroën acquired an interest in Maserati in 1968. The relationship produced the Maserati V6 used in the Citroën SM and helped define a different engineering period. The mid-engined Bora appeared in 1971, followed by the V6-powered Merak in 1972. These were distinct products within a widening range, not successive generations of a single model.

The 1975 crisis ended Citroën’s involvement and brought Alejandro de Tomaso’s leadership. Fiat acquired Maserati in 1993; Ferrari assumed control in 1997. The 3200 GT arrived in 1998, followed by the Spyder in 2001 and Coupé in 2002. The fifth-generation Quattroporte debuted in 2003, and the Pininfarina-styled GranTurismo followed in 2007. Maserati Club UK’s marque history.

The Biturbo and market-specific engineering

Introduced in 1981 under De Tomaso, the Biturbo pursued a broader market with a compact four-seat coupé, luxurious interior and twin-turbocharged V6. It represented a different commercial strategy from the preceding expensive, low-volume grand tourers.

Engine capacity depended on market and period. The Italian-market two-litre version reflected domestic taxation on larger engines; export versions initially used a 2.5-litre V6, with 2.8-litre engines appearing later. Coupés, four-door derivatives and open cars extended the underlying concept. Their shared ancestry does not make their engines, specifications or production dates interchangeable.

The Biturbo era is therefore best understood as a family of related developments. An individual car needs identification by model, market, body style and engine version before performance figures can be assigned. “The Car That Saved Maserati,” Trident, Spring 2010.

Modern engineering and production geography

Maserati’s association with Modena does not mean every model was assembled there. The new GranTurismo presented in October 2022 was developed through the Maserati Innovation Lab and manufactured at Mirafiori in Turin. Its petrol Modena and Trofeo versions used the twin-turbocharged Nettuno V6; the Folgore used battery-electric propulsion. These are different powertrain versions within the same modern model programme. GranTurismo launch documentation.

Modena remained an important engineering and manufacturing centre. Maserati’s 2025 production account describes the plant’s manufacture of the MC20 family and development and assembly of the Nettuno engine, including its pre-chamber combustion system. That year the company also announced the return of GranTurismo and GranCabrio production from Turin to Modena. The anniversary account published in December 2025 records their return. Production announcement; December confirmation.

Maserati’s history illustrates several ways of combining sporting engineering with luxury: the competition-derived 3500 GT, the broader-market Biturbo and the petrol and electric versions of the modern GranTurismo. Its identity cannot be reduced to one engine layout, body style or production site. 3500 GT archive; Biturbo history; modern GranTurismo.

Explore Ferrari, Citroën and Fiat for related manufacturer histories, or return to Automobile Manufacturers and Marques.

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