Romancing the Maserati

My Maserati does 185; I lost my license, now I don’t drive. — Joe Walsh, Life’s Been Good

We can assume that Joe, former Eagle guitarist, was speaking from personal experience when he came up with that line. After all, who better to speak with authority about the Italian sports car than Mr. “Life in the Fast Lane” himself? It’s also a brand popular with celebrities as far and wide as Bono, chef Jamie Oliver and Britney Spears.

And now — potholes and traffic be damned — it’s here in Manila.

I tried to refrain from using Italian stereotypes when describing the Maserati (set to be distributed by Wellington “Willie” Soong, chairman of Formula Sports, Inc.), but during a launch of two cars held at Rockwell Tent, I had a talk with Francesco Fabbiani, Asia-Pacific development director of Maserati, in a private sit-down arranged by Rockwell Land. He willingly supplied the “mama mia” imagery.

“It is like a lady,” Fabbiani enthuses. “A beautiful lady, racing well, but with very fantastic design on top of it.” Sexy, too. And built for speed. “Because it is a racing machine,” he agrees. “But excellence in design is also key.”

The romance of the Maserati goes far beyond the name, though. It’s been a winner in world racing (more so in the past, the ‘30s and ‘40s, Indy 500, et al) before reinventing itself as a luxury sports car. And, like many an Italian romantic, it’s been in bed with a long list of business partners — France’s Citroën, Alfa Romeo, and lately Fiat and Ferrari — sharing technology and distribution channels. But by the 1990s, Maserati was almost a thing of the past, nearing bankruptcy.

Now it’s back, selling like hotcakes — or maybe thin-crust pizza — all over the globe, with over 2,000 cars rolled out last year to the US alone, and climbing. With Maserati offices open in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Japan and now Manila, Asia must seem like the biggest market ever for this prestigious brand.

The two models to be sold in Manila are the Quattroporte S (more a family sedan, if your family likes driving 185 miles per hour) and the classic Gran Turismo S (available in shift or automatic). Both eight-cylinder cars can hit 200 mph, going from zero to 60 in roughly four seconds.

“The performance is part of the Maserati DNA, always,” says Fabbiani. “We are trying to combine comfort with performance and, of course, design, together with customization.” It’s true: for this launch, they’ve laid out fabric swatches of various colors for would-be owners to choose their interiors, leather, stitching and patterns. The cars are under wraps until the magic hour of unveiling at 8 p.m. Until that time, the roomful of businessmen, doctors and real estate developers (among others) at Rockwell Tent enjoy their cocktails and Italian coffee. A murmur grows until Gretchen Barretto takes the stage to press a button: the car tarps are magically whisked away, leaving two naked Maseratis before us.

Mr. Fabbiani, whose impeccable Italian tailoring I cannot fail to notice, earlier tells me why Maserati is such a unique driving experience. “Our claim is excellence through passion. The feeling and emotion that it’s giving you, the driving of Maserati, it’s something you have to try and certainly you cannot explain. You must experience.”

Certainly the company has had its ups and downs over the years, but this is part of the luxury car world in general: “You have to understand that all the niche companies like Lamborghini, Maserati, Ferrari, Porsche — they are always in a position of being on the edge between life and death. This is quite common.” With such small production — only five or six thousand cars produced yearly versus millions of BMWs or Toyotas — it’s harder to spread costs across the fleet like a big carmaker. “So when you have this type of product, it’s very difficult to survive,” says Fabbiani. “It depends a lot on the investment behind the brand.” Fortunately, Fiat, which took over in ’97, has brought continuity, a sharing of technology with fellow company Ferrari — not to mention truckloads of money.

Plus, Maserati believes it has found the right partner here. “We found in Mr. Willie Soong a perfect relationship. His people are experienced, they’re knowledgeable about the car industry. Lots of patience is important for our brand, our cars are more about promoting one-to-one business rather than mass market. And he is a great ambassador for the brand.”

To drive off with one, though, be prepared to pony up 100-percent import duties. That’s between 130,000 and 150,000 euros times two — roughly P11.5 to P17.3 million. A small price for such rare luxury, perhaps?

It may be recalled that Maserati made tentative steps to sell cars here back in 2001. Soong was first in line then, agreeing to import a few cars here and there from the Ferrari/Maserati group. But according to Soong, the international manager at the time “looked at the Philippine market — we were still going through a crisis — and said, ‘You know, Willie, this is a long process, better look at the business model, what volumes can you give? We don’t know whether we can give you a location, so I’m thinking a simpler way is to tuck you under an Asian distribution. Simpler. No more corporate approval. As you need it, bring it in.’” Soong agreed, but “when we started succeeding here, the distributors felt insecure. Then they started not supporting me, then they started playing with prices.”

Now, with new management, and Soong’s proven success with Jaguar, “They said, ‘We owe you a bloody apology, Willie. And this is how we’ll make it up to you.’” So Formula Sports landed a 10-year deal with Maserati. For now Fabbiani estimates only 15 to 20 cars will be sold in Manila yearly, adding “We are already easily on the way to reaching this number.”

With our ever-present potholes and traffic, I wonder how this luxury vehicle will fare on Manila’s streets. “Probably, for the traffic in Manila, I would suggest going with the automatic,” says Fabbiani. “It’s more suitable for the traffic: stop and go, stop and go.” (For those into specs, each Maserati sports independent dual wishbone “antidive” geometry suspension upfront, plus aluminum alloy levers, aluminum hub carriers and coaxial coil springs; while the rear suspension adds “antisquat” geometry and standard single-setting steel gas dampers with sensors on each wheel, available upon request.)

I ask Mr. Fabbiani if he ever feels the need for speed himself. “I do, but I prefer to do it on the racetrack. You can feel the environment is allowing you to enjoy the car.” His favorite driving experience, though, was in St. Maurice, Switzerland where he and company friends took a few Maseratis out on the ice. “We normally have this every year, we take it out for driving control. You can really understand and feel the car on the ice. It’s a nice sensation. That was the greatest experience I’ve had with a Maserati.”

Sure. But if you want tricky driving conditions, nothing beats Manila’s potholes and combination motorcycle/pedicab/pedestrian obstacle course. With or without a Maserati.