Car torque: Maserati launches 300km/h sedan

Maserati launches 300km/h sedan

Maserati’s all-new Quattroporte is being touted as the world’s fastest sedan, with a top speed of 307km/h. However, it’s being delivered to New Zealand on a fairly slow boat.

The new model, which was launched this month at the Detroit Motor Show, won’t arrive here until the end of the year. Maserati claims the Quattroporte is larger and yet lighter than the car it replaces.

Two new engines have been developed for the car: a 3.8-litre V8 (390kW/710Nm) and 3.0-litre V6 (301kW/550Nm), both with twin turbochargers. They are designed by Maserati and built by Ferrari. 

Maserati intends to push its global sales to 50,000 by 2015 and up to 1500 in Australasia by 2016, a 10-fold increase in the local market.

In that context, Quattroporte is the first of a new range of models: to follow will be the smaller Ghibli sedan and the marque’s first-ever crossover wagon, the Levante.

German president for Kia

German-born Peter Schreyer has been appointed a president of Kia Motors Corporation, the first non-Korean to hold such a post with the company.

Mr Schreyer, formerly of Audi and Volkswagen, joined Kia in 2006 as head of design. He is responsible for making the Korean brand’s cars look interesting in recent years. His design signature is the “tiger nose” grille.

Mr Schreyer is a president, not the president. He is now one of three such executives who report to vice-chairman Hank Lee.

The announcement of Mr Schreyer’s presidency in the new year was followed this week by a further promotion.

In addition to his roles as a Kia president and chief design officer, Kia parent company Hyundai Motor Group has appointed him to oversee design for both brands.

The intention is to streamline resources, yet also further develop separate visual identities for both brands.

Classiche cache

Ferrari Classiche, the marque’s official restoration and certification division, is working on no fewer than five of the original 36 250 GTO models.

The GTO is regarded as one of the greatest Ferraris ever produced and is certainly one of the most rare and valuable. A 1962 example originally built for racing driver Stirling Moss sold for $US35 million last year. 

Ferrari does not discuss details of individual cars and/or customers. But one of the GTOs in the workshop must surely be the car involved in a much-publicised motorway accident in France last year.

The vehicle, belonging to and driven by American Christopher Cox, was part of a convoy celebrating the GTO’s 50th birthday when it was involved in a collision with another car.

It quickly became known in the media as the “world’s most expensive car accident”. 

With access to all original design material and tooling, Ferrari Classiche can restore any Ferrari to authentic and as-new condition – even if all you have is a scrap of metal and a serial number.

Car sales crack 100,000

As predicted/hoped for, the New Zealand new-vehicle market topped 100,000 units in 2012. The industry total of 100,794 units was made up of 76,870 passenger cars and 23,924 commercials.

It is only the third time since 1990 that sales have broken the 100,000 mark. Toyota completed its 25th year as top brand with 21,620 registrations for the year.

Ford was in second place with 11,132, followed by Holden with 9446.

The top-selling passenger cars were the Toyota Corolla (5324), Suzuki Swift (3321) and Holden Captiva (2506).