I remember the first time I saw one. Driving south on River Road in Edgewater, NJ in 2003. The Fly Giallo paint looked wonderful in the NJ summer moonlight. It looked so cool and different. It was loud. You could tell it was a V8. I remember growing up, being told these boxy cars were not the pillars of reliability. But this was beautiful. It was my first time seeing a Maserati Coupé.
2002 was Maserati’s return to the US after an 11 year hiatus. The new car, dubbed the Maserati Coupé, envisioned by Italian design god Giorgetto Giugiaro, came as a 4 seater coupe or a 2 seat convertible (Spyder). What I saw on the road that night was a Coupé, and boy did it leave a mark.
The Maserati is powered by a dry sump 4.2L V8 motor, co-developed by Ferrari. Oh yes, I forgot to mention this. When this car came out, Ferrari and Maserati were owned by Fiat, so they would share components with one another. An overall win for those who wanted Ferrari technology, but not Ferrari price. The car was never extremely fast or extremely capable, it was a GT car that had a unique motor.
Paired to the Ferrari developed motor, Maserati offered two transmissions - a 6 speed manual & a F1-paddle shift electrohydraulic manual transmission called the Cambiocorsa - both being transaxle, located in the rear of the car.
The suspension was adaptive, but at the time, the technology was not as advanced as it is today, so the tangibility of an electronically controlled hydraulic suspension is close to none.
Like most cars of the time, the interior center console and dash are cluttered and look like they are trying too hard to be futuristic. The gauges go for the retro look, which was in at the time, making telemetry visible and usable.
In 6 years of production, a total of 13,423 units were sold, around 2,237 units per year - which makes this car pretty rare.
The problem that Maserati had at the time was that their dealership network was non existent, so they were making cars that didn’t have a showroom or a pre-existing dealer network market share.
I remember a Ferrari dealership about 30 minutes from me that had the rights to sell Maseratis, but the problem was that Ferrari dealerships didn’t have the reputation of being the warmest or most welcoming establishments. These pre-existing dealer reputations slowed on Maserati sales.
The other big problem was that Maserati had created a coupe that was more performance than luxury, which at the time was a new niche, but was advertised as more luxury than performance. Today, there are plenty of sporty luxury coupes, but at the time, the Mercedes CL & the Jaguar XK8 were the kings and what made you lust for a Maserati (the Italian heritage, the Ferrari engine, and the noise) were not things that could easily seduce the Merc and Jag demographic.
A more competitive sporty car was Porsche, who had just released their 996, which were extremely capable compared to Maserati.
Maserati was in a jam, creating a beautiful coupe with a Ferrari developed engine. The car was sporty, luxurious, and performed well. It just didn’t have the right marketing or dealership network. To be honest, it didn’t do anything spectacularly well. Everything was just “good enough”, and that doesn’t make a car legendary .
That is why I hate that I love the Maserati Coupé . The first time I saw this car, it made an impression. The car on paper is awesome. Sub 90k. Ferrari inspired engine. Manual transmission. Limited, rare, exclusive, and designed by Italy’s king of design. It just never did anything spectacularly well. I guess some things are better left loved, but not experienced.
What are your thoughts on the Maserati Coupé?