The place: the Geneva Motor Show in Switzerland/The reaction: stunned public and amazed media/The date: 1947. And 2007/The car: the Maserati GranTurismo.

The GranTurismo of 1947 began Maserati’s long, unbroken reputation for style and sexiness. Since that original GranTurismo, Maseratis have always looked fast and they have always had sumptuous interiors combining breakthrough design with unexpected practicality. So when the covers came off the new GranTurismo in Geneva in early 2007, it was the apex of a detailed, passionate design adventure that kept true to its heritage. That heritage has its roots in the Maserati A6GCS Berlinetta Pininfarina, which was so successful that its affectionate name, the GranTurismo, became the universal name for all fast, sexy, two-door coupés. The new GranTurismo’s designer, Pininfarina, did not need to look far to find inspiration. It was Pininfarina who designed the original GranTurismo and, in 2005, it was Pininfarina who designed the styling map to Maserati’s future, the Birdcage 75th concept car. The Birdcage 75th was an extreme vision of the style and performance expected of future Maseratis. It was a futuristic extension of the Maserati brand that reinforced the Trident’s potent design heritage. The GranTurismo is a culmination of Pininfarina’s design expertise, drawing a straight line between the character and tradition of the 1947 car and the innovation and presence of the Birdcage 75th.

STYLE COUNCIL

For as long as sophistication, sexiness and subtlety have been important to designers and to customers, the world has turned to Italy for its inspiration. Italy has always been the benchmark; the beating heart and the style engine of the world’s design. The best Italian companies fear no innovation, but they are also proud of their traditions. In the rush of modern business, they still keep to the values that made them famous and loved, even as they leap into the future. One of the keys to this is that, for the Italians, practicality is nothing without style – and style is nothing without practicality. One just does not work without the other.

Salvatore Ferragamo is a classic example. Apprenticed as a shoemaker at 11, he studied human anatomy, chemical engineering and mathematics – all the areas he needed to make shoes that were not only beautiful, but comfortable, supportive and strong as well. He is credited with opening up the toes on women’s shoes and inventing both the cork wedge and the metal-reinforced stiletto heel. Poltrona Frau is another example. The company trademark was registered in 1912 and its 1930 Vanity Fair is still regarded as the archetype of the modern armchair. The leather craftsmen produced their first car interior in 1982 and its chairs also decorate the Los Angeles Getty Museum and the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

It is little wonder, then, that both companies are high on the list of Maserati’s suppliers. Like them, Maserati is known as a prestigious centre of Italian craftsmanship, with a long history of creating practical and ground-breaking pieces of sheer artistry. The leather in every Maserati is carefully crafted by Poltrona Frau after long months of development, while Ferragamo’s tailored leather luggage set fits perfectly, both inside the boot of every Maserati GranTurismo and in the foyer of the world’s best hotels.

THE ART OF AWE

The GranTurismo was always going to be a long car but, more importantly for its designers, it has a very long wheelbase. It was this length that Pininfarina saw as its opportunity to make a statement that no other brand could make. Where most sports cars have two different shapes to their profiles, Pininfarina has given the GranTurismo three. There is one movement at the front, another in the middle and a third at the rear. All three are simultaneously individual and seamlessly integrated into each other. Pininfarina crafted, shaped and even enhanced this size to give it a physical presence and strength that is almost unheard of in this class.

Pininfarina’s Chief Designer, Guglielmo Cartia, never tried to make the GranTurismo look smaller than it is. On the contrary. “The design derives its strength from the volume and proportions. Because the engine is in the wheelbase, a big job has been done both optically and effectively to make it look long,” he insisted.
 

"The design comes from the package you have and doing what you need to do to optimise that. From the mouth of the GranTurismo there is an extrusion all the way through the length of the car, and it has a distinctive relationship to the cabin and to the overall mass. Maserati is not a brand with thousands of cars. It needs a distinct design that contacts it with the Quattroporte, and it’s important that people feel immediately, and without thinking about it, that they are in a Maserati interior, too.”

Cartia insisted Pininfarina took just as much care over the details of the GranTurismo’s interior as well, which is highlighted by a long central tunnel and rear-seat area that is both spacious and stylish. “You could take any of the pieces out of the interior and hold them in your hand and they will be beautiful. That’s what we wanted. But they won’t just be beautiful today because the detail is added to a design rooted in volume and shape. We wanted to give continuity of the themes of Maserati and to take them beyond today – to give interpretation to the next level of the themes that are Maserati’s signature. Our philosophy is that design in volume is more lasting over the years. That is not what happens with detail based design.”

EVERYTHING IN THE FAMILY

Maserati is a big believer in drawing a line between all of its cars so that, regardless of how different they might appear, there are hallmarks that are instantly, unmistakably Maserati. It starts at the front of the car, with the sharp vee at the top of the grille pointing down to the top of the Trident logo. This signature is reflected throughout the car, from the same vee shaping the top of the seat backrests to the way the top of the dash points down to the clock – itself a Maserati tradition.

Another is the trio of chromed vents behind the front wheel. Not only is this a beautiful, jewel-like piece of design, but it is also practical. Located in a low-pressure area, it helps to vent hot air from underneath the bonnet. The oval version of the Maserati logo known as the Maserati “Saetta”, which has been positioned on the C-pillar since the Quattroporte’s launch in 2004, is another characteristic found in all Maseratis. Even its headlights keep an historical Maserati coupé signature. View the GranTurismo in profile, and the lights sweep up into the front guard panel – just as they have done since the 1940s.

MODERN MARVEL

Muscular from every angle, the GranTurismo’s design catches your eye from the moment you see the grille. Unique, distinctive and unmistakably Maserati, a grille like this would be the high-water mark for other car companies. At Maserati, it is just the start. Pininfarina has given the GranTurismo a design that unconsciously takes your eye on a fluid journey across the muscles of the front wheel arches, to the extrusion past the cabin and over the feline haunches to the tail, with its built-in spoiler lip.

The tiniest details have been crafted with enormous care to coherently add to the overall shape and design. The concave vertical slats in the grille carry a traditional chromed Trident suspended in the centre. From there, the eye naturally travels to the multi-faceted headlights, which sweep up aggressively and horizontally into the front guards. In between these lights is the traditionally long, low Maserati bonnet, with the classical “vee” shape and then there are three air outlets behind the front wheels to add to the dynamism and presence. Sweep to the rear and there are 96 LEDs in each ground-breaking triangular tail light, plus a wide aerodynamic diffuser opening out beneath the bumper. This design theme carries through to the cabin, with the distinctive family “vee” running along the top of the dashboard to the Maserati clock, and repeated in the seat shape. The restrained, but charismatic, detailing is exquisite, too, from the subtle chrome rings that decorate the buttons on the dashboard and steering wheel to the Trident logo embossed into the headrests and the Alcantara trim lining the back of the gearchange paddles.