The Ghibli name was resurrected with the unveiling of the 1992 Ghibli (Tipo AM336), a two-door, four-seater coupé offered with twin-turbocharged V6 engines. Like the V8 Shamal flagship, it was an evolution of the previous Biturbo coupés; the interior and basic bodyshell were carried over from the Biturbo.
History
The Ghibli was launched at the 62nd Turin Motor Show in April 1992.[7] The Ghibli was powered by updated 24-valve twin-turbocharged engines which had seen use on the Biturbo range: a 2.0-litre V6 coupled to a six-speed manual transmission for the Italian market,[8] and a 2.8-litre V6 for export, at first coupled with a 5-speed manual, then from 1995 with the 6-speed manual.[9] A 4-speed automatic was optional. The coupé was built for luxury as well as performance, and its interior featured Connolly leather upholstery and burr elm trim.
At the 1994 Geneva Motor Show, Maserati launched an updated Ghibli.[10] A refreshed interior, new wing mirrors, wider and larger 17-inch alloy wheels of a new design, fully adjustable electronic suspension and ABS brakes were added. The Ghibli Open Cup single-make racing car was announced in late 1994.
Two sport versions were introduced in 1995. The first was the Ghibli Kit Sportivo,[11] whose namesake handling kit included wider tyres on OZ "Futura III" split-rim wheels, specific springs, dampers and anti-roll bars. The second was the limited edition Ghibli Cup, which brought some features of the Open Cup racer into a road-going model; it debuted at the December 1995 Bologna Motor Show.[12] It has a 1996 cc engine rated at 330 PS.[13][14]
At the time the Ghibli Cup had the highest ever specific power output of any street legal car at undefined PS per litre, surpassing the Bugatti EB110 and Jaguar XJ220. Chassis upgrades included tweaked suspension and Brembo brakes. Visually the Cup was recognisable from its 5-spoke split-rim Speedline wheels and badges on the doors. Only four exterior colours were available: red, white, yellow and French blue. The sporty theme continued in the Cup's cabin with black leather, carbon fibre trim, aluminium pedals and a MOMO steering wheel.
Ghibli GT
A second round of improvements resulted in the Ghibli GT in 1996. It was fitted with 7-spoke 17" alloy wheels, black headlight housings, and had suspension and transmission modifications.
On 4 November 1996 on the Lake Lugano, Guido Cappellini broke the flying kilometre's World Speed Record on water in the 5-litre class, piloting a composite-hulled speedboat powered by the biturbo V6 from the Ghibli Cup and belonging to Bruno Abbate's Primatist/Special Team. The boat ran the kilometre at an average speed of 216.703 km/h.[15][16] To celebrate the world record Maserati made 60 special edition Ghiblis called the Ghibli Primatist, featuring special Ultramarine blue paintwork and an interior trimmed in two-tone blue/turquoise leather and polished burr walnut trim.
Production of the second generation Ghibli ended in Summer 1998.[17] It was replaced in the Maserati range by the 3200 GT.
Ghibli GT
A second round of improvements resulted in the Ghibli GT in 1996. It was fitted with 7-spoke 17" alloy wheels, black headlight housings, and had suspension and transmission modifications.
On 4 November 1996 on the Lake Lugano, Guido Cappellini broke the flying kilometre's World Speed Record on water in the 5-litre class, piloting a composite-hulled speedboat powered by the biturbo V6 from the Ghibli Cup and belonging to Bruno Abbate's Primatist/Special Team. The boat ran the kilometre at an average speed of 216.703 km/h.[15][16] To celebrate the world record Maserati made 60 special edition Ghiblis called the Ghibli Primatist, featuring special Ultramarine blue paintwork and an interior trimmed in two-tone blue/turquoise leather and polished burr walnut trim.
Production of the second generation Ghibli ended in Summer 1998.[17] It was replaced in the Maserati range by the 3200 GT.
Ghibli Open Cup
A single-make racing series for the Ghibli, the Open Cup, was run two seasons—1995 and 1996. Twenty-five Ghibli Open Cup racing cars were prepared. They were based on the two-litre model, with their tipo AM 577 engines tuned to 320 PS[18] by using roller-bearing turbochargers, a freer-flowing exhaust, and remapped fuel computers; a roll cage, Sparco racing seats, a Momo racing steering wheel, aluminium shifter knob and pedals, 5-point belts, automatic fire extinguishing system, an aluminium sump guard, carbon fibre air-intakes, a modified fuel system and 17-inch 5-spoke Speedline wheels completed the outfitting. In 1995 eight races were held, two in Italy and six across Europe.[19] In 1996, the car received a modification upgrade, resulting in similar track times to those of the Ferrari 355 Challenge. After the end of the 1995 racing season, several of the original 23 cars were used in national GT events.
Specifications
Like the Biturbo, the Ghibli had unibody steel construction, with a conventional longitudinally-mounted, front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout. Suspension was of the MacPherson strut type at the front and semi-trailing arms at the rear, with coil springs, double-acting dampers and anti-roll bars on both axles. The differential and rear suspension arms were supported by a bushing-insulated subframe. It also featured ventilated disc brakes on all four wheels, and steering was servo-assisted rack and pinion.
The engine was the latest evolution of Maserati's all-aluminium alloy, DOHC 4 valves per cylinder 90° V6 engine, fitted with water-cooled IHI twin-turbochargers and two air-to-air intercoolers, one per each cylinder bank. Weber-Magneti Marelli IAW electronic fuel injection and ignition system was used. The gearbox was a Getrag-supplied 6-speed manual transmission from the Shamal on 2-litre cars, while 2.8 litre cars initially used a 5-speed ZF unit and were updated with the Getrag gearbox in 1995. At the rear axle there was Maserati's "Ranger" Torsen
