Maserati Quattroporte: Four doors into Italian luxury carmaking

The Maserati story may have begun with five Italian brothers with a passion for race cars, but by the 1960s the brand had already exchanged hands, and had started shifting its focus to road cars. One of its first cars of this era was the Quattroporte, which was Maserati’s first four-door car that has kept up through five iterations, and has gone on to become its longest standing line.

The latest Quattroporte hit the international car scene in 2003 at the Frankfurt Motor Show, and has gone on to become one of Maserati’s best-selling current models since. Powered initially by a pumped up version of the 4.2-litre V8 that was also seen in the then existent Maserati Coupe and Spyder, the car aimed to be one of most nimble and exciting four-door saloons of its time. This of course was an era much before hardcore sports-car makers like Porsche, Aston Martin and Ferrari had entered the four-door saloon segment, and as a result the Quattroporte went on to enjoy a place of distinction for many years. The addition of the 4.7-ltire 430PS V8 in 2009 only added to the car’s sporty intentions.

At the heart of the car’s athletic character lies a rear-biased weight distribution, with a 47-53 front-rear split, despite its front-mounted engine. Engineers at Maserati achieved this by moving the engine behind the front axle, shifting it closer to the cabin, and also mounting the gearbox at the rear along with the differential, using a transaxle layout. What this results in is light and nimble steering, which is a boon despite the car’s length which lies in excess of 5-metres – comparable to the likes of the BMW 7 series etc. What also sets the Quattroporte apart, of course, is its elegant, stylish yet aggressive, almost quintessentially Italian aesthetic.

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In India, the car will rival for the attention of the well-heeled against the Porsche Panamera, but we won’t be surprised if the more adventurous of the lot are willing to pay the extra dough for the Italian brand, and go on to abandon more conventional luxury sedan choices from Germany.