Maserati to present more powerful GranCabrio Sport in Geneva

If the Maserati GranTurismo debuted at the Geneva Motor Show 2007, it came with a 400-hp, 4.2-liter V8 equipped Ferrari. A year later, Maserati shoehorned a larger 4.7-liter engine under the hood, GT, boasting 434 hp. But if the GranCabrio - known as the gran turismo convertible in the United States of America - came on the market, he decided the car manufacturers Modense to the smaller engine skip and the 4.7 now directly from the page is the brand Trident it is better to The new Gran Sport convertible.

Be revealed by in Geneva, grabs the top-spec four-seater convertible, an updated version of the 4.7-liter V8. 450 HP went through the same ZF six-speed automatic as the standard model, but again calibrated with the MC-Shift Auto-programming for faster response. The Skyhood active suspension has been optimized together with the upgraded brakes, and how to get out the pictures in the gallery below, the automaker has a number of sporty touches of styling applied as well to see. Read the full press release after the jump

New Ultimate Factories episodes coming for Challenger, Viper, Bentley and more

Ultimate Factories will come back to the National Geographic Channel and the latest season chalk full of everything automotive action. Concert dates have camera crews start in Dodge, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz and Bentley to show factories how to paint a Dodge Challenger, what it takes to build a Maserati engine and how Dodge is building (or is it built?) Viper Chassis and its 8.4-liter heart.

Ultimate Factories Airs on Thursday Evening 10 clock and the Dodge Challenger episode will start in February 3rd. But until then, a preview in the video after the jump.

Chinese women buying disproportionate percentage of exotic cars?

The number of Chinese millionaires is growing rapidly, and women make up one third of the growing affluent population. This is good news to exotic car manufacturers as well-off Chinese women are tearing them like Italian pastries.

The sale of high-end cars by 60 percent last year and analysts are already pegging a 35 percent rise in 2011. Maserati reports that 30 percent of its sales in China are women, compared to only 10 percent for the European market. China is now passing on his way to Italy as the automaker's second-largest market.

It is not only Maserati, either, Ferraris and Lamborghinis are bought in large numbers. The wealthy women from China account for 20 percent of the local Ferrari sales, which is double the global average. The increase in exotic car sales has even received attention from Bugatti, and the Volkswagen Group is now discussing a possible sales plan for China.
Thanks for the tip, Art!

Ferrari 612 successor will be privately shown on January 21, teased on invitation

Chrysler, the automaker to the top of the minivan movement in the 1980s, is seriously thinking about his family tractor business. As we reported earlier, the Chrysler is scrapping one of the two twins minivan by 2013, making room for a small micro-van within the next few years to start - a vehicle that compete with the likes of the Ford C-Max and Mazda5 . Now, Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, reports confirmed that a hybrid version of the company's next-generation minivan on the way, should be up to 2013 debut.

Which is for use in hybrid minivans use the same drive technology, we shall see in the gasoline-electric version of the Chrysler 300 sedan, will also be set to start in 2013 planned the drive train. The factory, where both the Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan are built today - The new van will be built at the automobile manufacturer Windsor Assembly Plant in Canada

Spy Shots: Baby Maserati Quattroporte mule snapped hiding in plain sight

If you've been listening to the whispers about a new smaller version of the Maserati Quattroporte and wondering exactly what the machine will look like when it debuts, you can quit your pondering. Sort of. Our task force of stealthy spy photographers have managed to lay their lenses on a mule version of the new baby Quattroporte. This particular evaluation car sports a shorter wheelbase and smaller brakes than its bigger brother, and a single exhaust outlet hints to a slightly lower level of performance. Though this tester seems to have raided the parts bin of the larger Quattroporte for some ill-fitting glass, we're told that the production version of the car will look significantly different.

Maserati has been itching to tango with the likes of the Mercedes-Benz AMG E-Class, Jaguar XFR and BMW M5, and this machine could be the beast that allows the company to do just that. As of right now, there's no indication as to exactly what will lurk underhood when it debuts in 2012, though with a mule running around, we're guessing it won't be too long before we hear more about the smaller Quattroporte's drivetrain.