Maserati History

Maserati was founded in 1914 in Bologna, by the Maserati Brothers. The five brothers were all involved with cars during the early 20th Century. Three of them, Ernesto, Bindo and Alfieri worked for Diato, building Grand Prix race cars. Diatto stopped manufacturing these racing cars in 1926, and this led to the brothers creating the first ever Maserati. Alfieri won the Targa Florio in 1926 in one of the earliest Maserati race cars.

The Maserati company was sold by the surviving Maserati brothers in 1937, to Adolfo Orsi. The Orsi family relocated the business to Modena in 1940. Despite the change of ownership, the Maserati brothers continued to work for the company as engineers, and the company continued to enjoy racing success.

During the Second World War, Maserati stopped producing cars in order to manufacture components that were needed for the war. However, Maserati did work on a design for Mussolini's towncar, racing with Volkswagen's Ferry Porsche, who was simultaneously building a car for Hitler. The Maserati car was never constructed, however, and it was scrapped at the planning stage. After the end of the war, Maserati began manufacturing cars once more. The Maserati A6 experienced sporting success in the post-war period.

Maserati recruited some important new talent after the war, including Alberto Massimino, an engineer from Fiat who had worked on Alfa Romeo and Ferrari cars. Maserati built some superb race cars using their new engineers, as well as the assistance of the Maserati brothers. However, the Maseratis left at the end of their decade long contract, and founded OSCA. Maserati cars were very successful in motor sports during the 1950s.

Maserati retired from participating in factory racing after 1957, although they continued to build cars for private drivers. Since they were no longer racing on their own behalf, the company switched its focus to the production of road cars such as the 3500 2+2 coupe, the Sebring and the Ghibli. Citroen purchased Maserati in 1968. Although Adolfo Orsi stayed in place as the nominal president, big changes were made within Maserati. A number of new models were introduced, and they were being produced in much larger numbers than Maserati had previously manufactured. There was also a mutual transfer of technology between Maserati and Citroen designs. The Bora, Merak and Khamsin were all produced during this era.

In 1973, the oil crisis affected Maserati along with the rest of the car manufacturing industry. Demand for powerful, fuel hungry cars dropped significantly, which caused a lot of trouble for luxury and sports brands. Citroen became bankrupt in 1974. PSA Peugeot Citroen, the new controlling group for Maserati announced that Maserati had gone into administration in the following year. However, with the support of the Italian government, the company managed to survive.

Alessandro de Tomaso, a former racing driver, arranged the takeover of Maserati by his motorcycle company, Benelli, in 1975. He became the new managing director. New models were introduced to the Maserati range, including the Kyalami in 1976 and the Maserati Quattroporte III in 1979. During the 1980s, Maserati began to turn away from its mid-engined sports cars in order to focus on sleek and stylish coupes that would offer a combination of lower prices and high performance. These included the Biturbo, the Spyder and the Karif. Maserati began to work very closely with Chrysler, which was run by Lee Iacocca, a friend of de Tomaso. Chrysler in fact bought part of the Maserati brand, and the Chrysler TC by Maserati was produced by the two companies in collaboration.

In 1993, Maserati was bought by Fiat. Fiat invested a lot into its new purchase, which helped the Maserati brand to flourish. A number of new models were introduced, including the 3200 GT, the Spyder, the Coupe, the GranTurismo and the GranCabrio. Fiat sold 50 percent of its shares in Maserati to Ferrari in 1997. Ferrari was a sister company of Fiat Auto, with both companies being part of the Fiat Group. Ferrari and Maserati had been competitors for a long time. Ferrari took Maserati over completely in 1999, and made it into its own luxury division. Ferrari's takeover of Maserati helped to make the brand a success. A number of new models were developed, and Maserati returned to racing.

Maserati separated from Ferrari in 2005, and merged with the Alfa Romeo brand, still under the Fiat Auto umbrella. In 2007, Maserati made its first profit during its 17 years with Fiat.