An Interesting Car Month in Milan.

February 29, 2008 · Filed Under Milan · 1 Comment 

First, I caught sight of a very sleek matt-black Maserati down in the centre, only to learn afterwards that it is one of a kind and belongs to none other than Lapo Elkann who is one of the Fiat clan. Presumably Lapo was at the helm. The car was being driven rather briskly too, I might add.

Next, down by the Castello, I espied what may well turn out to be the farmers’ supercar, and distant relation of the humble tractor. Well, they are both diesel powered, or rather can be. This car, you see, was the stunning Audi R8, which has also been built with a fire breathing diesel engine. However I don’t think was the agricultural version of this particular supercar, but it did sport German licence plates. Didn’t sound like a tractor anyway.

And, then, I saw the new Jaguar XF in a showroom near to where this non-supercar driving English teacher catches his bus. Now, how can I put this, well, this new Jag looks an awful lot like a Lexus. Not a problem you might be heard to utter. No, but for the fact that I’ve always considered that most of Toyota’s finest look extremely bland. The white paint work of this particular one did not seem to do it any favours either.

Although my rather party pooping observation may delude you, by all accounts it is a very good car, at least Top Gear thought so. Still a shame it looks like a Lexus though.

For a rather more jazzy presentation of this new Jaguar, unless you are epileptic (the flashing of the flash presentation is a wee bit overwhelming…), click here and select the country where you find yourself.

Last, but by no means least, while we were coming back from our meal out last night, we followed a stretch-Hummer limo. Now, if you know what a Hummer is, you will know that these leviathans of the road are anything but small when they are the normal versions, but this thing was gargantuan. It must have been at least 10 metres long. Just the thing for the Fiat Panda sized parking spaces that are, more often than not, on offer in Milan.

Just to cap things off, this giant of the road appeared to have, as far as I could make out through the blacked out windows, those constantly colour changing fibre optic type lights beloved of Christmas trees affixed to the inside of the roof. Very nice, especially if you wish to convey the impression that you are a high-powered New York pimp (on holiday in Milan), I suppose.

What an interesting car-month February turned out to be.

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DIESEL

January 28, 2008 · Filed Under Italy · 4 Comments 

Nope, I’m not going to waffle on about eco friendly fuels, but in my continuing micro-attempt to raise the feel-good factor for Italy in these troubled times, I’m going to have a look at an Italian brand, which, at first, quite a few years, I did not know was Italian. Not a surprise, I did not even know how to pronounce Versace until a more fashion conscious friend corrected me.

DIESELAnyway, DIESEL actually kicked off way back in 1978, but the company did not start to become an international brand until the late 1980’s. Now, of course this 100% made in Italy company is very well known at an international level. Traditionally, Italian fashion tended to cater for the upper ends of of the market, so DIESELs operation could be viewed as being a wily attempt by its Italian owners to bring the international strength of the Italian fashion industry down into a younger, for the Italian fashion industry, market sector. A shrewd move which paid off.

Now this company, based in Molvena, a relatively unknown town in north eastern Italy, can boast stores in locations as prestigious as Lexington Avenue in New York city. The company provides employment for around 3,500 people too, and while this may not be an enormous number, it is not at all bad for a company that manages a worldwide presence, and is also about average for a fashion sector company from what I’ve managed to glean.

Sales of 1.2 billion Euros were achieved worldwide in 2005, a figure which is not too far behind that of the archetypal Italian brand managed by one Giorgio Armani at 1.69 billion Euros in 2005. Both companies appear to have a per capita sales income level of around 350,000 Euros. This compares quite favourably with the 2006 income of the British Burberry group, which achieved a per capita sales income of 373,000 Euros in 2006.

All of the above goes to show that Italy has people that are more than capable of producing world beating products and brands. Just imagine what this country could do with good sound leadership.

PS If you think I’ve got my facts wrong - tell me!

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The Power of Italy

January 25, 2008 · Filed Under Good Italian Things · 5 Comments 

In these troubled times in Italy, I’m going to buck the trend and have a look at something which puts Italy in the kind of light it should be in permanently. That something is the Italian car company, which I regard as being the Italian equivalent of Aston Martin. That company is Maserati.

I’ve always harboured a secret admiration for Maseratis. Even if the now superseded, but interesting Biturbo models had an awful reputation for having low build quality and dreadful electrical systems.

Luckily, with the launch of the magnificent GranTurismo, Maserati is now well and truly living up to the spirit that this marque once had. The GranTurismo is a lovely piece of engineering. I remember, quite a few years ago now, seeing one of the first GranTurismos on display in a cinema here in Milan. My initial reaction was ‘What’s this?’, and then I was both surprised and very pleased to discover that it was a Maserati. Finally, I thought, the company had managed to produce something that could live up to the marque’s cachet.

Although I have seen plenty of these beautiful cars on the streets of Milan, I have never managed to ride in one, never mind actually drive one of the things. And this is not going to happen for the foreseeable future, because, alas, this car is a bit beyond the purchasing power of an English teacher. But, a successful sausage entrepreneur might stand a fighting chance of ending up with one of these jewels parked on his driveway (I also need the driveway!).

Here is a picture of one of these works of art, which I have unashamedly stolen from the Maserati site:

Maserati - GranTurismo
I apologise for this heinous crime, and if Maserati objects, I’ll remove it (but it would be nice if they could send me a some photos I could use for a Maserati page!).

Having briefly waxed lyrical about the Maserati GranTurismo, I’d like now to talk about what I regard as being the company’s master stroke - the glorious Quattroporte, which, to all intents and purposes is no more, in the best possible sense, than a four door GranTurismo. Only this is not your typical four door saloon, this is one of the few real four door supercars, and it is a fabulous alternative to the trusty but rather staid BMWs, Mercedes, and Jaguars. This, the product of some serious lateral thinking, was pure genius on the part of Maserati, and people, admittedly well-heeled people, are buying these things. I see a good few of them running around Milan, for example.

That Maserati is on to a good thing, has not escaped the notice of none other than Porsche, who are apparently working on a four door version of the famous 911. If you’d like to know more about the Quattroporte, then just click here. And you can even listen to the sound of the engine!

There, you see what Italians can do when they want to! And guess who is behind Maserati? Yep, it’s Fiat, and sitting at the helm of Fiat is, hopefully, a future Italian prime minister - Luca di Montezemolo.

End of unashamed promotion of one of the many good things that Italy has on offer! Oh, I could have written about Ferrari, but then everyone does, so it would not have been too original.

PS I like Ferraris too - but then so do most people.

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