Maserati has reached a significant milestone in its history of car production. Since the beginning of the new company cycle, 20,000 vehicles have come off the production line. The new era began in 1997, when historic Modena became part of Ferrari before going back to Fiat earlier this year.

The 20,000th Maserati is a Touring Grey Quattroporte, for the US market. The USA is Maserati's biggest market and accounts for 30% of global sales.

Following the excellent results obtained in 2004, 60% up on 2003, with 4,600 cars registered worldwide, the first few months of 2005 have confirmed Maserati's positive sales trend. This solid result was led by the Quattroporte.

The Quattroporte's success has been confirmed by the numerous international awards. Projections for 2005 are for an 80% increase on the 1,900 Quattroporte registered in 2004.

Data from the markets in which the Quattroporte appeared at the end of last year confirms this success. Comparing the January-May 2004 period with the same months in 2005, North America has shown a 122% increase, Japan 147%, and Asia, Oceania and South America showed a combined growth of 180%.

Italy has also contributed to Maserati's strong market performance. A 49% growth has been achieved in the last 12 months.

As K.H. Kalbfell, Maserati's CEO, emphasises: "The success of the Trident marque is linked to the fact that clients can personalise their vehicles down to the smallest detail thanks to the Officine Alfieri Maserati programme, which offers a wide range of combinations and options. The name itself was that of the original Trident company. Our cars are only delivered once they have been test driven and individually assessed to the highest standards."

Maserati's current commercial success has been based on the intense levels of work carried out over the past few years. Product design and technology, development of the commercial network, state of the art techniques for engineering, production facilities and constant attention paid to all the monitoring programmes have been the focus. This has led to a high quality level and great client satisfaction. It was only in 1998 that Maserati was selling less than 700 units per year and was present in around 20 international markets. It did not have a presence in the all important North American market.

Today’s success comes from the launch of successful new models, the Quattroporte and the GranSport. These were accompanied by limited edition models like the MC12 (50 units) and the Spyder 90th Anniversary (180 units). Also important was developing dealer networks in 56 international markets, including Russia and China. Maserati has directly owned subsidiaries in the main markets and all dealerships are selected using the highest quality standards.

Looking at Maserati’s future, K.H. Kalbfell said "The motor industry is highly competitive in all sectors and, as such, is characterised by ever more complex and subtle decisions needing to be made. These call for a blend of experience, knowledge and intuition. These elements are all evident in the Maserati team and are further supported by the real passion displayed for this great marque. This is a unique asset and I am convinced that it will help us achieve ever higher goals."