Established on December 1, 1914, in Bologna, Maserati is an Italian manufacturer of racing and sports cars.

The company, whose emblem is a trident, is now headquarterd in Modena. It has been owned by the Italian car giant Fiat S.p.A. since 1993, Maserati is a car company that possesses a glorious history.

The Maserati brothers, Alfieri, Bindo, Carlo, Ettore, Ernesto and Mario, were all involved with automobiles from the beginning of the 20th century.

Mario, an artist, is believed to have devised the company's trident emblem based on the Fontana del Nettuno, Bologna. Alfieri died in 1932 but brothers Bindo, Ernesto and Ettore kept the firm going, building cars that won races.

In 1937, the remaining Maserati brothers sold their shares in the company to the Adolfo Orsi family, who, in 1940, relocated the company headquarters to their hometown of Modena where it remains to this day.

The brothers, however, continued in engineering roles with the company.

Maserati built its image of sport cars manufacturer by being much implicated in motor sport.

One of the first Maseratis, driven by Alfieri, won the 1926 Targa Florio. Racing successes continued, even against the giants of German racing, Auto Union and Mercedes.

In 1939, a Maserati 8CTF won the Indianapolis 500, a feat repeated the following year.

The famous driver Juan-Manuel Fangio raced for Maserati for many years during the 1950s, producing a number of stunning victories that included winning the world championship in 1957 in the Maserati 250F. It was indeed Maserati's glory period.

However, slightly strapped for cash and with a perceived need to make the company grow, the Orsi family sold its interests out to Citroen and the French car-maker, keen to introduce many of its advanced technological ideas to Maserati, ploughed funds into the Italian specialist.

Unfortunately, the 1973 oil crisis struck making Citroen bankrupt leading to the new controlling group, PSA Peugeot Citroen, declaring Maserati bust.

Maserati’s range is today reduced to two models. The Quattroporte is an impressive and luxurious salon powered by the excellent V8 Ferrari engine.

The second model, the coupe Granturismo, launched in 2007 is also equipped with the V8 Ferrari.

Last year, Maserati introduced a more powerful version of this model, the Granturismo S.