Maserati

Maserati is an Italian car maker that is known for their high performance vehicles. The company was originally founded in 1914, by the Maserati brothers, Alfieri, Bindo, Carlo and Ernesto. All of whom had a hand in the company at one point or another. All the brothers had been involved with cars from the very beginning, working for Diatto. However, when Diatto stopped producing high performance sports cars, the brothers developed the first Maserati. The company stayed with the brothers until 1937 when they sold to the Adolfo Orsi family. However, all the Maserati brothers stayed on as engineers for the company.

The Maserati has long been known for high performance cars. The cars have even won the Indianapolis 500, making it the only Italian sports car to ever accomplish such a feat. When the war began, Maserati abandoned making performance cars, as most automakers did during this time. Their main efforts were focused on developed a town car for Benito Mussolini before Hitler had his own town car. However, the company failed in doing so.

When the war ended, Maserati produced the M6 series, which was widely popular. The company went on to produce some of the finest racing cars in all of history and won several races with these cars. They also had their fair share of talented drivers that were known worldwide, as it was an honor to drive for Maserati. However, after an accident in 1957, they stopped building performance cars for the racing circuit, and instead focused their production on performance cars for the public. During this time they produced many engines with six and eight cylinders that the public received with open arms.

In 1968, the company once again changed hands to be owned by French auto manufacturer Citroen. During this time, the company flourished. They produced more models than ever before and began increase their production numbers. However, the time was short lived as Citroen eventually went bankrupt. Following this incident, the company was keeping afloat by the funds from the Italian government.

In 1975, the company was taken over by an Argentinian race car driver. During this time the company abandoned some of the high performance cars that they were producing and focused more on performance coupes. During this time, Chrysler also purchased a small stake in Maserati and produced one vehicle with the company. The company followed by be owned by Fiat in which the company underweight another drastic change. Years later, Fiat allowed Ferrari to purchase half of the company, which came as a surprise to many since Ferrari is the main competition for Maserati. However, Ferrari has been given the credit of bringing the Maserati company back to life, as for many years it was on the verge of bankruptcy and closing its doors.

As of right now, Maserati is partnered with Alfa Romeo still under Fiat control. The company began selling Maserati's in the United States again in 2002. Since then, they have produced some good numbers in regard to US sales.