Maserati


Maserati began with a small number of brothers. I say this in a sarcastic demeanor. There were six brothers, each one involved in some capacity. They began production of their own cars after the Diattor company they worked for stopped production, they joined together to create the Maserati company itself and began to build the cars. The brothers were Alfieri, Bindo, Carlo, Ettore, Ernesto, and Mario. Alfieri passed away after many complications arose from a car accident, and from that point on it passed on to his other three brothers who kept the company going – Bindo Ettore and Ernesto.

Maserati logo

In 37 the remaining brothers, having had their fill of cars, sold the company to Adolfo Orsi, and they relocated the company to Modena. The brothers, however, continued to work with the company as engineers, as that is what they wanted to do in the first place – which lead Maserati to a 1940 victory in the Indianapolis 500, followed by another victory there a year later. When WWII hit they were manufacturing parts for the Italian War Machine rather than cars, but soon after the war they went back to building what they always built: cars.

Throughout the fifties they remained a successful car that almost nobody could beat – but an accident lead Maserati to stop racing cars themselves, and leave that to others. In the late 50s they began to focus on more road car oriented vehicles rather than racing vehicles, and produced some of the most stunning road cars seen, from the Spider to the Ghibli. Later in 1968 Citroen bought Orsi out, although he remained in the company.

Mercury Geneva 2009

However Maserati changed, more models were launched, more cars were made, production ramped up tenfold and more people bought their cars. It was quite a success… until the dreaded 1973 oil crisis. Citroen went bankrupt, and they liquidated Maserati – however the Italian government stepped in and helped Maserati. Allesandro de Tomaso bought the struggling company and brought it back from the brink of death, and led it into a successful era. Then in 1993 hands changed again, to Fiat. Then in 97 Fiat sold half of Maserati to Ferrari (which is owned by Fiat too). Then Ferrari took full control over Maserati and made it a luxury brand. However, in 2005 a deal termination with GM by Fiat caused a cascade in which Fiat separated Maserati from Ferrari, and brought it under Fiat’s control once again.

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