Spy Shot: Maserati Quattroporte Coupe
Fiat-owned Maserati is currently developing a six-figure coupe based on its Quattroporte sedan. Carving some six inches out of the sedan's wheelbase and employing extensive weight saving measures through the use of aluminum and other composite materials should ensure the coupe is significantly quicker than its four-door stablemate. Its engine is expected to be an enlarged version of Maserati's current 4.2L V8 producing somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 horsepower mated to a six-speed auto or traditional manual. The Bentley Continental GT, Mercedes-Benz CL Class and Aston Martin DB9 are the coupes that will land in the crosshairs of this Italian 2+2.
[Source: Autobild and Car and Driver, July 2006]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ab 7:58AM (5/31/2006)
Something's clearly a bit off; if that's a coupe, the front door is impossibly short--and yet the rear doors do look drawn in...
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Gardiner Westbound 8:58AM (5/31/2006)
What's with the Ford Fusion taillights?
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Rence 9:24AM (5/31/2006)
It's a coupe, I'm suspecting those rear door gaps are just painted on and that handlebar is stuck on as well. Clever disguise :)
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Sean Flanagan 10:08AM (5/31/2006)
If it's a coupe, it won't be a Quattroporte unless it's a coupe in the same way a Merc CLS is a coupe. Maserati Duoporte is more like it.
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Tom Design 10:13AM (5/31/2006)
ab => You know your definition of a coupe, and as a late Senator once may have said, "I knew a coupe, and you, Maserati Quattroporte (even with the most "T's" in a car name) are no coupe!" This is a lovely four door hardtop or sedan. The Italians never understood the French.
"A coupé (from the French for cut) or coupe is a car body style with a close-coupled interior offering either two seats or 2+2 seating (space for two passengers up front and for two occasional passengers in the rear). Through the 1950s convertible models were sometimes called convertible coupés, but since the 1960s the term coupé has generally been applied exclusively to fixed-roof models. Coupés generally, but not necessarily, have two doors, although automobile makers have offered four-door coupés and three- and five-door hatchback coupés, as well.
A coupé is distinguished from a sedan primarily by interior volume; SAE standard J1100 defines a coupé as a fixed-roof automobile with less than 33 ft³ (0.93 m³, 934.6 L) of rear interior volume. A car with a greater interior volume is technically a two-door sedan, not a coupé, even if it has only two doors. Some car manufacturers may nonetheless choose to use the word coupé to describe such a model, e.g., the Cadillac Coupe de Ville." - Wickepedia
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BrianS 11:45AM (5/31/2006)
Wouldn't that be the Duoporte, then?
Quattroporte = "four doors"
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Art 3:38PM (5/31/2006)
very nice, to do battle with the Conti GT. but fiat has promised a smaller, cheaper maserati to do battle with, pricewise, the SLK55 and upcoming SL350.
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G. Snyder 9:52AM (6/01/2006)
Wikipedia IS NOT a dictionary. STOP using wikipedia to define things. It is a community/contribution-based encyclopedia.
For those of you who have trouble understanding words, use a dictionary. A coupe has two doors. Four-door 'coupe' is an oxymoron and merely a marketing gimick meant to define a somewhat swoopy and impractical four-door.
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m 12:16PM (6/01/2006)
lighten up, we can call it a crossover coupe HSC (high speed cruiser) if we want..it really doesn't matter!
let the marketers use whatever lame terms they want to.
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Tom Design 7:35AM (6/02/2006)
G Snyder => Okay, you're having a bad day, and you hate Wickepedia. I never mentioned a dictionary nor an encyclopedia. SO STOP SHOUTING AT ME! I searched Google, found a 100% hit, copied some reasonable text, and then cited the source. You don't even mention by name the dictionary you curl up to bed with. From my favorite dictionary: "Main Entry: touchy
Pronunciation: 't&-chE
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): touch·i·er; -est
1 : marked by readiness to take offense on slight provocation"
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Josh 3:49PM (7/19/2006)
#2 it came before the fusion so the fusion has those taillights
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ferrarihire 5:08PM (11/23/2006)
Any ideas when we can have a better look and decide once and for all?
http://supercarbloguk.blogspot.com kindly sponsored by Northern Ferrari Hire http://www.northernferrarihire.com
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