The Maserati Kyalami (Tipo AM129) is a four-seat GT coupé produced by Italian automobile manufacturer Maserati from 1976 to 1983. The car was named after the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit in South Africa, where a Maserati-powered Cooper T81 won the 1967 South African Grand Prix.
History
The Kyalami, a notchback, two-door grand tourer, was the first new model developed under the Alejandro de Tomaso's ownership. It was derived from, and hard to tell apart from, the Longchamp, even though they share no body panels.
When De Tomaso acquired Maserati after the demise of Citroën in 1975, he found the brand in dire financial straits. In a desperate need to develop a new flagship model to improve sales, De Tomaso had the idea to use the recently unsuccessful Longchamp as the base to save the development costs of the new model. Pietro Frua was commissioned by De Tomaso to undertake the restyling of the Tom Tjaarda-designed Longchamp to give the new car a distinctive Maserati feel. The edgy lines of the Longchamp were softened, and the headlamps were replaced by quad-round units. The car was also lowered, lengthened and widened to give it a sportier character. This move was disdained by purists and this showed in the form of declining interest in the car.