| Maserati roars back into lead
FIFTY years ago the great racing driver Juan Manuel Fangio called a halt to his career at the age of 47. He retired at the top, Formula 1 world champion for the fifth time in 1957. His last race, the 1958 French Grand Prix, was in a Maserati 250F and it marked the end of the road for the Maserati racing team, which had been more than a match for Ferrari, its Italian compatriot. For all its success, Maserati, then owned by the Orsi family, had run out of money. Though it subsequently raced sports cars, Maserati continued to decline. It teetered on the edge of bankruptcy and new shareholders and owners came and went until it fell into the hands of Fiat, Italy’s automotive giant, in 1993. After wondering what to do about a company with an exciting name that was making a small number of cars with a poor reputation for reliability, Fiat entrusted the management of Maserati to Ferrari, which it had owned since 1988.
Supercars that will spoil you
Buyers of ultra-high-end cars have traditionally fallen into one of two camps: performance or luxury. There are the thrill seekers, strapped into million-dollar Bugatti Veyrons, zooming down the autobahn at 200-plus mph. And then there's the chauffeured set, lounging in the backseats of Rolls-Royce Phantoms while sipping glasses of Cristal. Judging by the latest crop of supercars to hit the market, automakers are betting more big-spenders fall somewhere in between the two extremes. You no longer have to choose between ultra-fast acceleration and hand-stitched comfort. In some new models, you get the best of both worlds. No car embodies the Goldilocks approach better than Fiat's Maserati GranTurismo, a supercar that made its debut at the Geneva Motor Show. A sportier update of the four-door Quattroporte, the Pininfarina-designed GranTurismo is more compact and more curvaceous than its predecessor, with a wider grille.
German Auto Industry Calls EU's CO2 Diet Unworkable
When it comes to consumer loyalty in choosing a car brand, national passions run deep in Europe. All of the top 10 best-selling cars in Germany are produced by Volkswagen, Opel, BMW or Audi. The French also vastly prefer cars in their home market, and the Italians are loyal to their Fiats and Maseratis. So last week when Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking argued before the EU Commission that the new C02 emission target of 120 grams per kilometer (g/km) pitted beefy German cars against smaller French and Italian producers, Chancellor Angela Merkel pushed for a compromise. The new EU-wide target for 2012 is now 130 g/km with the shortfall of 10 grams to be made up with the use of bio-fuels and other measures, but the EU has yet to spell out how such a target is to be achieved.
Maserati QP Sport GT
Could this possibly be one of the best-looking cars that $146,000 money can currently buy? If just for admiring from 10 paces, the 2007 Sport GT is worth every cent. These cars are still hand-built in Modena, so the niggles that I have about low-rent plastic fixtures and tainted attention to detail should be ignored. Maserati claim that 16 Quattroportes are built per day, so to expect Japanese-level quality control is a waste of your time. Yet the Italian manufacturer has recently invested more than $60m in the plant to address these imperfections. Each car is now meant to receive an extensive visual inspection and a few hours of drive time under their belt before they set sail. Or so they say. There must be a few stragglers that fall to the wayside, avoiding their multimillion-point test check, and an afternoon's jaunt around the Italian countryside.
Little Fiat sexiest car ever
Top Gear magazine has voted the humble Fiat 500, which looks like a cross between a Mini and a VW Beetle, No 1 for setting pulses racing. It tops a list of 100 sexiest cars because the mag claims anyone behind the wheel looks sexually charged ? even a nun. Contributing editor James May defended the bizarre choice yesterday, saying: The Fiat 500 advertises nothing about its owner, except that its someone who doesnt need to try. Top Gears top ten sexiest cars: 1. Fiat 500; 2. Aston Martin DBS; 3. Maserati Quattroporte; 4. Chevrolet Camaro; 5. Citroen C6; 6. Lincoln Continental; 7. Bentley Continental S1 Fastback; 8. BMW M1; 9. Rolls-Royce Phantom; 10. Sally the Porsche 911 Carrera (from the animated film Cars). .
Prized Maserati is prime attraction at supercar show
Abu Dhabi: A Maserati costing 1.8 million euros (Dh9.78 million) is the prime attraction of a supercar Show. The show, the first of its kind in the city, features about 30 luxurious cars. The Private Drive Supercar Show was officially opened on Saturday evening in the presence of Shaikh Zayed Bin Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the Emirates Palace Hotel. The show ends on Monday. Maserati's MC 12 Corsa (2007) is the star. "It is one among nine in the world," said Adel Euza who owns the car. "The car's top speed is 480 kmph and it has been used in international races. You cannot order it from the company anymore," said Adel who is displaying five cars in the show. .
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Capello names provisional 30-man England squad
David Beckham has been left out of England manager Fabio Capello's first squad but Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor has been included. Capello has told Beckham - who was hoping to win his 100th cap - that he only wants players who are match-fit. Apart from Agbonlahor the other new face in the 30-man provisional squad to face Switzerland in a friendly international at Wembley on Wednesday is Villa team-mate Curtis Davies - currently on loan from West Brom. Davies said: 'I'm completely shocked but absolutely delighted. I wasn't thinking about England from my perspective at all. I was thinking about those who might get into Mr Capello's first squad, but I didn't think I'd be one of them. I'm really happy. 'When I got the news I thought it was a wind-up.
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