Today in the Valet Parking garage I noticed a new Maserati:
http://www.emotionmeetsbusiness.com/newqpsite.html?lang=na
and thought it looked a little too familiar…like a Buick Lacross or Lucerne.
Back in the 80s Maserati teamed up with Chrysler to make the TC…essentially, a gussied-up LeBaron.
Is this Mas just a re-badged Buick?
No, not in the slightest. I’m not sure why you’d think that - is it the portholes? Other than that, the cars really don’t look at all alike. It’s kind of laughable to think that a $100,000 Italian sports car would be nothing more than a tarted up Ford.
Modern Maseratis are designed pretty much independently of any other manufacturer. Although, they were owned by Ferrari until recently, and I think still use Ferrari-derived engines. They also have some kind of deal with Audi to use their Quattro AWD system.
maserati is owned by the fiat group
Buick is a GM brand, not Ford.
Oh, sorry, you’re right.
I think the cars do indeed look different, but I think that the trend of “aero” styling has caused a lot of vehicles to look similar, to the point where once-unique names like Mercedes, BMW or Jaguar now look pretty much like the sedan offerings from more ho-hum companies. I have a hard time telling the new Jaguars and Mercedes apart from KIAs or Hyundais, for instance. The lines of a Mercedes were once totally unmistakable - now they’re jellybean-shaped like all the other cars. As a lover of classic automobiles, my heart aches.
Only if you’re certain people wouldn’t buy it at that price if it were.
I’m trying to parse this. Really trying.
And the Cryptic Comment of the Year award goes to Derleth.
“You would have to be certain that people wouldn’t buy it at that price for it to be laughable (even if it was just a tarted up GM.)”
Sage Rat got it. I have few doubts a tarted-up Ford or GM or Honda would sell for that price if it had a famous name attached to it.
It didn’t work for the Cadillac Cimmeron or the Chrysler TC. It might work if the base car was good, but you can’t polish a turd.
Curious piece of synchronicity. I just saw one of those things in a parking lot last Saturday, and wondered about it. The back end was labeled “Chrysler” on one side and “Maserati” on the other. It caught my attention because of the Maserati emblem on the front grill.
Maserati is under Fiat ownership but the Quattroporte is assembled in Modena, Italy and powered by a Ferrari-built 4.2-liter V8. At the time this “four door” was created, Maserati was owned directly by Maranello.
The 2005 Acura NSX had an MSRP of $89,000 (USD). Outside of North America (and Hong Kong), it carried a Honda badge.
And Jaguars are, for the most part, tarted up Fords. Most models are based on platforms shared with Lincolns, except for the X-Type, which was essentially an AWD Taurus.
Yes, but people know that Acura is just Honda’s high-end division. They do not try to disguise the fact that those cars are based on Hondas - the Acura ‘A’ logo is just a mushed Honda ‘H’. Ditto Nissan-Infiniti, and Toyota-Lexus.
As for Jaguar, that’s true only for the current two cheaper models (the S- and X-types), and sales have suffered as a result. It will not be the case with Jaguar’s next-generation cars.
Nope, a Mondeo/Contour.