Auto News 5

Maserati, like all automakers, wants to sell more cars, but one of the advantages of being a boutique carmaker is that you can maintain close relations with your customers because there simply aren't that many of them. Since Maserati sold only 2035 cars in the U.S. last year, top-level employees actually were able to call each buyer to welcome them to the brand and solicit feedback. It's not surprising that Maserati buyers---highly successful folks with the ability to lay down six-figure money for an Italian car---are pretty candid on the telephone. They've tended to tell Maserati USA execs exactly what they like, what they don't like, and what they'd like to see. Clearly, these wishes make it directly back to Maserati HQ in Modena, Italy, because the product portfolio has evolved to reflect some specific American tastes, most deliberately in the new, 2012 Maserati GranTurismo MC.