It won't ship until late 2010, but the 2011 Audi A8 looks really good. The all-new fourth-generation A8 full-size luxury sedan has a 372 hp 4.2-liter V-8 with eight-speed transmission under the hood, and all-wheel drive.
This 8-minute video includes driving scenes and exterior shots, plus close-up detail shots.
The $75,000 car will compete with the Mercedes-Benz S-class, Maserati Quattroporte, Lexus LS460, Jaguar XJ/XJL, BMW 7-series.
The Lincoln MKS with an EcoBoost V6 engine is put to the ultimate challenge for speed and handling against four European luxury V8s up Loveland Pass, Colo. The challengers are the Maserati Quattroporte, the Jaguar XF, the BMW 550i, and the Mercedes E550.
Unfortunately, no real details of the challenge, such as fuel economy braking and handling, are released. More details about the challenge can be found at 6versus8.com.
The Nissan GT-R proves that the coupe is the best body style in the world.
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET)
I love coupes. I would go so far as to say that the coupe is the best style of car in the world. Limiting a full-size car to two doors may fly in the face of practicality, but it allows for much more body style than a sedan. Automotive designers get to play with the roofline and equip a coupe with real fenders, making for a sporty-looking package. The best a sedan can do is look stately.
Roadsters are loads of fun, but a soft top just says you're not taking driving that seriously. A coupe means business, ready to take on all sorts of weather, with a hard top that can be shaped for aerodynamics.
The only negative aspect of a coupe is the rear seat. Most coupe rear seats are a joke, cramped little spaces that serve as much purpose as your appendix, or a vestigial tail.
In honor of the coupe, I've collected our last 10 coupe reviews and added a little commentary about those rear seats. Enjoy! I certainly did while driving these cars.
The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG's retro design evokes the 300 SL.
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With all the very expensive new cars being unveiled at the Frankfurt auto show, you would think the economy never went into recession. It did, and yet here they are, a parade of new automotive objects of lust from the likes of Ferrari, Maserati, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Aston Martin, and Rolls-Royce. Some emphasize sport, some luxury, but all have way more of each than your standard economy sedan.
Leading the parade is the spectacular new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, a monster of a supercar with retro styling evoking the gull-winged 300 SL. Porsche shows off a couple of 911s, the styling only slightly updated but big improvement where it counts: in the engine, transmission, and suspension. Ferrari comes up with a replacement for the F430, managing to improve on that already fantastic supercar. And then there's Abarth, which offers up a tribute to Ferrari in the form of a heavily modified Fiat 500.
A number of convertibles follow, the tops chopped off of an Audi R8, Lamborghini Reventon, and Maserati GranTurismo. And finally, a couple of stately sedans from Aston Martin and Rolls-Royce take the floor.
The GranCabrio will make its world wide debut on September 15 at the upcoming International Motor Show in Frankfurt, Germany.
(Credit: Maserati/Fiat Group)When we had our look at the 2008 Maserati GranTurismo, we concluded that the Italian tourer was very much like a supermodel. What could be better than a supermodel? Well, a topless supermodel...and that is what we'll get in the Maserati GranCabrio, a canvas convertible topped GT set to debut at the 2009 Frankfurt motor show.
Although it's not the first Maserati to drop its top, the Maserati GranCabrio will be the first four-seater convertible in Maserati history and joins the Quattroporte and GranTurismo as the third vehicle in Maserati's current product line-up.
Upon its debut, the GranCabrio will have the distinction of having the longest wheelbase on a convertible on the market.
(Credit: Maserati/Fiat Group)The GranCabrio is powered by a 4.7-liter V8 producing 433 horsepower, so it's has more displacement and power than the 4.2-liter, 403 horsepower GranTurismo tested last year. The GranCabrio seems to combine the GranTurismo's coupe profile and the Quattroporte's four-seater proportions, with a canvas power-retractable soft top. Its extended proportions also gives the GranCabrio the longest wheelbase of any convertible on the market. If it truly is longer than the Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe, this will be a huge vehicle.
Following its debut in Frankfurt, Maserati will begin to market the GranCabrio starting next winter. The luxury cabriolet should hit dealerships as early as spring 2010.
Retired F1 champion Michael Schumacher joins up with Bacardi on its campaign against drunk driving, although the drunk simulation in this video is very amusing. Watch as Schumacher pilots a Maserati around a course he has never driven, carting around three opera singers.
Maserati cars evoke a strong emotional reaction from customers, says Marti Eulberg, CEO of Maserati North America, who has some quasi-scientific evidence to support her contention.
With previous management posts at BMW, Volvo and Jaguar, Eulberg, 44, knows U.S. luxury buyers. She has been head of Maserati's North American unit since June.
Maserati cites a study by British insurance company Hiscox on the reaction of men and women to the sound of car engines being revved. The saliva of 20 men and 20 women, ranging in age from 22 to 61, was tested before and after they listened to a Lamborghini, a Maserati, and a Ferrari, as well as the Volkswagen Polo subcompact.
"One hundred percent of the women showed a significant hormonal increase," when listening to the Maserati, Eulberg says.
Science? Maybe not. But you get the point.
And it isn't just the noise a Maserati makes. "The difference in Maserati styling and performance -- the package you are able to give that customer -- it evokes a reaction," Eulberg says.
At least, that's the goal. Eulberg says that the ability to stand out at the country club, the big-bucks restaurant or the posh hotel is a major reason Maserati is holding its own in a tough environment. Maserati's 2008 U.S. sales were down just 1.2 percent from 2007 (see box at right).
With just two cars, both over $120,000 -- the Gran Turismo coupe and the Quattroporte sedan -- Maserati sales rose from 853 units in 2002 to 2,509 last year.
Eulberg expected a flat 2008, a consequence of the economic meltdown and lack of consumer confidence. Despite the sales, Maserati expected to make a profit in the United States last year, she says.
The prediction for this year isn't as gloomy as that of a volume or near-luxury maker. Eulberg expects 2009 sales "to be about even."
From Texas to Maserati
Eulberg, who speaks with none of the drawl you'd expect from a Texas native, was previously executive vice president of sales and marketing for Jaguar North America. Before that, she was vice president of sales in Europe for Volvo Car Corp. She spent 10 years at BMW of North America in various sales and operational jobs before going to Ford Motor Co.'s Premier Automotive Group in 2001.
Last spring she was wooed by Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Maserati parent Fiat, to replace James Selwa, who left after his three-year contract expired.
Compared with the more staid Ford-owned companies, at Fiat and Maserati meetings in Italy, "there is a lot more passion," Eulberg says. "The things that drive the company are styling and performance."
She also has had to get used to Maserati's small advertising budget. Maserati limits national spreads to publications such as the The Wall Street Journal and GQ magazine.
GQ did a joint campaign with Maserati late last year. Those viewing the Maserati ad in the December issue of GQ could take a picture with their cell phones and download that engine sound as a ring tone.
Those kinds of interactive campaigns as well as Internet and direct-mail are mainly how Maserati markets its vehicles, Eulberg says. Dealers also partner with local businesses in event marketing to get buyers in the showroom for a test drive, which Eulberg considers key to selling a Maserati.
"These cars have a racing heritage," she says. "The handling and performance are key."
More models?
How long can Maserati survive with just two cars? Eulberg isn't willing to talk about future product. Maserati has a technical alliance to share technical components and platforms with Fiat sister-brand Alfa Romeo. If Alfa Romeo shares a rear-wheel-drive platform, Maserati could get a smaller sedan and coupe. That isn't likely to happen until 2011, at the soonest.
Seven Maserati dealers are selling 84 units of the limited-edition Alfa 8C Competizione in the United States. They are expected to be among the first Maserati dealers to get Alfa franchises when the brand returns here.
But talk of Maserati dealers selling a new generation of Alfa Romeos in the United States has turned to a whisper as the date for relaunching that brand here keeps getting pushed back. The latest target is 2011.
Eulberg says she's focused on Maserati and refers Alfa Romeo questions to Italy.
Maserati has a comfortable number of dealers, she says. With the addition of three points in 2008, it has 58 dealerships in the United States, of which 37 are paired with Ferrari (also a Fiat brand). Only two are stand-alones.
"What we want is sustainability in today's market. We have to be careful on how fast we grow and what we do," Eulberg says. She adds that "the relationship with the dealer market, how we go to market and the one-to-one relationship, is very much a boutique operation."
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Corinne Schulze/CBS Interactive)
Maserati showed off an updated Quattroporte sedan for the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show. The 2009 Quattroporte gets a design consistent with the 2008 GranTurismo, including the toothy grille, and it gets reworked head and tail lights. The S model of this curvy sedan gains some oomph, with a big 4.7-liter V-8 under the hood, half a liter bigger than the standard model. Best of all for car techies, Bose contributes an audio system and infotainment package that combines navigation, cell phone, and stereo.
Maserati calls this track-ready car a concept.
(Credit: Maserati)Where other car companies build concepts with futuristic shapes that have to be towed onto the show floor, Maserati's new GranTurismo MC concept is built for speed. Maserati racing engineers have taken the GranTurismo S model and added various aerodynamic and ventilation touches to the bodywork without spoiling the fine Pininfarina styling. Maserati places air intakes on the hood and around the grille, and, at the same time, put vents behind the front wheels and at the rear of the car. The front and rear fenders are resized to accommodate a wider front track and the rear vents. Maserati increases the size of the rear spoiler for extra down-force. To save weight, composites are used in the bodywork, and the windows are made of Lexan for track safety.
The engine, while basically the same powerplant as the 4.7-liter V-8 found in the GranTurismo S, gets tuned up and fitted with new intake and exhaust systems, resulting in 450 horsepower. The suspension, brakes, and tires all get refitted for track use, and the car gets a 100-liter FIA-approved gas tank. The interior no longer has the luxury appointments seen on the production car, instead getting fitted with racing instrumentation and seat.
Should that front wheel be off the ground?
(Credit: Maserati)The Maserati GranTurismo MC concept follows the design idea of Ferrari's Challenge Stradale and 430 Scuderia, both cars being performance-tuned and lightened versions of Ferrari's standard models.
Driving the 2008 Maserati GranTurismo is like dating an Italian supermodel: her beauty gets you a lot of attention in public and being with her just makes you feel good. Actually, having never even met an Italian supermodel, we're going with a stereotype here, but in many ways the graceful Pininfarina-designed GranTurismo fits it. Her mouth might be a little big and toothy, but that's where we've pushed the comparison too far. The big toothy grille on the car looks great, but wouldn't work so well on a person.
As for the cabin electronics, our supermodel's English is maybe not so good, and our Italian is virtually nonexistent. The GranTurismo features a hard-drive-based navigation system with room for music storage, and a menu system that was baffling. But, a little time spent with our beauty started to clear up some of the language barriers. Once we understood her better, we found she was pretty smart, although some of her European traits just don't work in the U.S.
