Maserati Quattroporte – For lovers of performance and luxury

The Maserati Quattroporte, the first luxury saloon with racing technology under the bonnet, was launched in 1963. A chronicle by Jürgen Lewandowski.

The history of Maserati is complicated – founded by five brothers in 1914 to build racing cars, then taken over by the Modenese industrialist Adolfo Orsi in the early 1950s, the company fell into the hands of Alejandro de Tomaso in 1975, who sold the glorious company to Fiat in 1993. Today, Maserati exists under the Ferrari umbrella and is currently experiencing an astonishing renaissance.

However, there was a time when Maserati could easily keep up with Ferrari on the racetracks and with its GT vehicles – the trigger for this was the 3500 GT presented in 1957, which was to become a successful model with its in-line six-cylinder engine in elegant coupés and spiders. And in 1963, the first Maserati Quattroporte could be admired at the Turin Motor Show – the fastest four-seater, four-door saloon in the world at the time. While the exhibition model still had a 4-litre eight-cylinder engine derived from the brutal 450 S racing car, the production models from 1964 onwards had an engine with a displacement of 4.2 litres, which delivered 260 hp and accelerated the 1,750-kilogram saloon to a top speed of 230 km/h. The sleek and simple bodywork, designed by Frua, ensured the absolute ‘understatement’ effect; only the connoisseur knew what was concealed beneath the bodywork.

The first generation Maserati Quattroporte

In the spring of 1965, Paul Frère wrote about ‘Europe’s fastest saloons’ – the title of his story in Motor-Revue 1/65 – about this Maserati, which at the time cost exactly 50,000 marks: ‘Designed as a very fast luxury car by a company that had become famous for its racing cars, the Quattroporte is probably the fastest standard four-door saloon in the world. Despite all the efforts of its designer Giulio Alfieri, however, the Maserati cannot deny its sporting pedigree, and although it is very comfortable, it has a firmer suspension than the Mercedes or the Jaguar, and is also not – perhaps one should say not yet – as refined. Its four-camshaft V8 engine is somewhat rougher, and more noise enters the passenger compartment from the engine and the road than in the other two cars.

However, it is superior to them in terms of driving performance – the top speed is probably 225 km/h. Our test car was not equipped with the optional ZF power steering, which we would definitely not want to do without for such a fast car weighing approx. 1,700 kg, because 5.1 turns of the steering wheel – even if the turning circle is good – is far too much for a car travelling at over 200 km/h. ‘An automatic (Borg-Warner) power transmission is also available for this car. Incidentally, an automatic (Borg-Warner) transmission is also available for this car.’ The acceleration values that Paul Frère achieved at the time were as follows: 0-100 km/h = 8.6 sec; 0-160 km/h = 21.6 sec; 400 m with standing start = 16.0 sec; 1.0 m with standing start = 16.0 sec. Start = 16.0 sec; 1 km with standing start = 29.2 sec. Start = 29.2 sec.

The Quattroporte, which was produced 759 times in the course of its career up to 1970, cost 54,000 marks in the end. From November 1965, the Tipo 107 (as the Quattroporte was known within the factory) was available with more power and an engine that was enlarged to 4.7 litres: the result was 290 hp. With this extra power, the Tipo 107A reached a top speed of almost 240 km/h. Externally, the 107/A could only be distinguished from its predecessor by the twin headlights.

At the 1971 Paris Motor Show, Frua delivered a final follow-up to the Quattroporte. Based on the Tipo 107, he presented an elegant QP with the 4.9-litre 8-cylinder engine, of which only two were ultimately built.

The second generation between Citroën and De Tomaso

At the end of the 1960s, Maserati ran into financial difficulties, forcing the Orsi family to sell 60 per cent of the company’s shares to Citroën. In addition to the mid-engined Bora and Merak models and the Ghibli successor Khamsin, Citroën also worked on the Quattroporte II (QP II), which was presented at the Paris Motor Show in autumn 1974, shortly before Citroën sold Maserati to Alejandro de Tomaso with the financial help of the Italian state. The Quattroporte II was technically closely related to the Citroën SM and also had the 2,965 cc V6 engine with an output of 140 kW (190 hp); the car also had front-wheel drive, an unusual solution for Maserati. The top speed was to be 200 km/h and 100 km/h was to be reached in under ten seconds. The car was designed by Bertone. In March, the QP II was on show once again at the Geneva Motor Show, now with a 3.2-litre displacement and 200 hp – but Citroën was already in such a bad financial situation that Alejandro de Tomaso came in as the saviour, who quickly ended the QP II era after a total of 13 vehicles had been built.

The statesmanlike third generation of the Maserati Quattroporte

De Tomaso remembered the sales success of the QP I and commissioned Giorgetto Giugiaro, who had become self-employed with his company Italdesign to design a new QP – it was to be the Italian answer to Bentley to Bentley – with plenty of leather, lots of comfort and more than enough interior space.
interior space.

In the end, the Maserati Quattroporte III was also used as a representative vehicle for the Italian President. Giorgetto Giugiaro carried out his task with his usual aplomb – if de Tomaso wanted a prestigious state limousine, he was going to get it. With a length of 4.95 metres, a width of 1.89 metres and a height of 1.38 metres, the new Quattroporte turned out to be a truly large vehicle that provided its occupants and their luggage with plenty of space, to which the wheelbase of 2.80 metres also contributed.

The fact that this Quattroporte, equipped with every conceivable luxury and weighing in at 1,940 kilograms unladen, was not exactly a small car did not bother anyone – they knew that potential buyers did not necessarily expect this luxury ship to have the temperament of a racing car.

Although the 235 km/h stated in the brochures was certainly impressive, the test departments of reputable specialist magazines rarely achieved more than 220 to 225 km/h – and when an automatic version with the Chrysler TorqueFlite three-speed gearbox appeared just one year later alongside the ZF five-speed gearbox, the top speed dropped to 215 km/h, while 10.7 seconds had to be set for the sprint to the 100 km/h limit.

In January 1980, Road & Track took a look at the new Quattroporte – and editor-in-chief Henry N. Manney III came to the conclusion after a few laps at Riverside that ‘this car not only has deep leather seats that would suit a British country club, but can also be driven around the track with astonishing temperament.

However, Maserati’s great past was particularly evident in a general feeling of high precision when cornering – even if the Quattroporte leaned a little and tended to understeer slightly, it still ran around the corners as if on rails.’

A pleasing ease of handling, which, however, was not to affect the care and maintenance of the eight-cylinder engine, as this is where the aluminium engine with four overhead camshafts – which could still be traced straight back to the 450 S racing car of the 1950s – reached its final maturity: with a displacement of 4. With a displacement of 4,930 cc (bore x stroke: 93.9 x 89 millimetres), the engine was now large enough to deliver 206 kW or 280 hp at 5600 rpm – despite the increasingly stringent exhaust emission laws. Just for the sake of order, it should be mentioned that the Maserati Quattroporte III was also available with the 4.2-litre V8 for the Italian market until the 1985 model year, which delivered 188 kW or 255 hp from 4,136 cm³ at 6000 rpm – ultimately only 51 units were to leave the factory.

The sales figures for this Quattroporte III generation showed that Alejandro de Tomaso’s calculations paid off, with 2,111 units sold by the time production was discontinued in 1990 – making it the most successful Maserati in the long history of this remarkable V8 engine. No wonder the sales brochure proudly proclaimed: ‘One of the last automotive treasures with the charm of the chosen one’.

Alejandro de Tomaso, who took over the company with the distinctive trident under dramatic circumstances and thus spared it a trip to the bankruptcy court, had long dreamed of a ‘people’s’ Maserati – and he was thinking (because of the Italian luxury tax) of 2 litres of displacement, combined with plenty of temperament and packaged in a small, manageable yet elegant shell.

The result of his deliberations could be seen at the 1982 Geneva Motor Show: the Biturbo, whose name made it clear that the small V6 cylinder, with the help of two turbochargers, was capable of a proud 180 cv, which helped the Biturbo, weighing just 1,085 kilograms, to reach a top speed of 215 km/h. The result was the Biturbo.

With this performance – and the more than modest price of 20,000,000 lire – it was no wonder that the Italians stormed the surprised Maserati dealerships and ultimately almost 40,000 units of this model series were sold.

The Maserati Quattroporte IV and the transition to Ferrari

With the Biturbo family, smaller four-door Maserati models were also launched in the 1980s, including the 420, 425 and 430 models – even though they were not intended as direct successors to the Quattroporte III and were not named as such, they were the company’s only four-door models from 1990 to 1993.

It was not until the Maserati Quattroporte IV, launched in March 1994, that the traditional name was reintroduced, although its technical and visual features were very similar to those of the Ghibli and the 430 4v. Initially, it was only available with V6 engines with a displacement of 2,000 and 2,800 cc (287 and 284 hp respectively), and from 1996 also with the V8 engine from the Maserati Shamal. This had a displacement of 3,200 cc and produced 246 kW (334 hp).

In the meantime, de Tomaso had endeavoured to find a partner and in 1989 Fiat acquired a 49 percent stake in Maserati. One of the new owner’s first acts was to reduce the sprawling model programme to a coupé equipped with the latest technology, which was to bear the well-established name Ghibli. However, the next step was to revise the four-door model, which celebrated its premiere at the Turin Motor Show in autumn 1994.

Alejandro de Tomaso then fell seriously ill – forcing him to agree to the sale of his remaining 51 per cent of Maserati shares to Fiat on 19 May 1993 in order to become the owner of Ferrari in the spring of 1997. Production of the Quattroporte IV was initially suspended, only to be presented in 1998 in a revised version called the QP Evoluzione.

Ferrari had redesigned the details of the V8 engine from the Shamal for the Quattroporte Ottocylindri – it now produced 336 hp (247 kW), increasing the top speed to 270 km/h and reaching the 100 km/h limit in 5.8 seconds. A total of 2400 examples of the Quattroporte IV were produced by May 2001, 758 of which were equipped with the eight-cylinder engine.

With the spirit of the 50s and Italian character to the Maserati Quattroporte V

In 1999, it became clear that a new Quattroporte should complement the successful 3200 GT Coupé – and Carrozzeria Pininfarina was commissioned to design the shape. The result was the QP V, which celebrated its world premiere at the IAA in Frankfurt in 2003.

The question at the time was: ‘What can and what must a Quattroporte represent in today’s world?’ For Lorenzo Ramaciotti, Head of Design at Pininfarina, the new top model ‘had to have a strong character, exude Italian spirit and be sporty and dynamic.’

And Luca de Montezemolo was clear that ‘the new Quattroporte – like its predecessors – is at home in the fascinating world of large saloons, but at the same time can build on a foundation of traditions and legends that only the original has. And the original is the Quattroporte.’

Now sports cars live from different proportions than classic saloons – and Maserati decided to give the new model representative dimensions with a wheelbase of 3,064 mm and an exterior length of 5,052 mm. A size that can only be given a sporty appearance with first-class designers. ‘The car has a strong character and is instantly recognisable as an Italian’, that was the decisive criterion for Luca de Montezemolo with this Quattroporte – and Lorenzo Ramaciotti added: ’It carries the spirit of the 50s – but the reduced design language of today.’

It was clear that the new Quattroporte also had to drive like a Maserati – and here the familiar 4.2-litre eight-cylinder engine with its 400 hp provided the temperament expected of a Maserati: a top speed of 275 km/h and acceleration from zero to 100 km/h in 5.2 seconds were impressive figures for a luxurious saloon whose occupants could luxuriate in wood and leather.

Of course, it was up to the owner whether he wanted to transmit this power to the rear axle with a manual five-speed gearbox or a six-speed automatic transmission. If you wanted to go even faster, two years later you could opt for a 4.7-litre version with 431 hp (317 kW) in the QP S 4.7 V8 and 440 hp (323 kW) in the QP Sport GT S and travel at up to 285 km/h.

Maserati Quattroporte VI – Downsizing and Diesel

The Maserati Quattroporte V remained in the range until 2012 and was replaced by the all-new QP VI in autumn 2012. It grew significantly to 5.26 m in length, as Maserati wanted to focus more on the US and Chinese markets – and under the bonnet, a variety of 3-litre six-cylinder and 3.8-litre eight-cylinder engines with biturbo charging with up to 580 hp (427 kW) of power worked and continue to work.

From 2014 to 2020, there was also a 3-litre six-cylinder diesel engine with turbocharger and 275 hp (202 kW) – which only met with limited approval from the company’s fans, even though it provided 250 km/h (155 mph). However, the petrol engines were capable of speeds between 285 and 326 km/h.

Maserati has always been the brand for the more introverted lover of performance and luxury – red vehicles are rarely delivered here, but the models are black, silver or dark blue. You could also say that Maserati has a rather conservative attitude: a love of tradition, of heritage – without wanting to do without state-of-the-art technology.

The new Maserati Quattroporte also continues the legend of its predecessors with noblesse and style – and this is exactly what the many friends and lovers of the Maserati legend have come to expect.

Fotos Maserati S.p.A., Dirk de Jager, Maxx Shostak / Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Author: Jürgen Lewandowski

Jürgen Lewandowski schreibt seit mehr als 40 Jahren über Menschen und Autos - und hat mehr als 100 Bücher veröffentlicht. Traumklassiker: Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 Touring Spider und Lancia Rally 037. Eigener Klassiker: Alfa Romeo R.Z. von 1993. View all posts by Jürgen Lewandowski →