Maserati

The Kyalami was launched at the 1976 Geneva Motor Show. The two-door grand tourer was the first new model developed under the Alejandro de Tomaso's ownership of Maserati. 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 car was initially powered by a 4,136 cc V8 engine, in 1978 an enlarged, 4.9 litre version became also available. Mechanically, the Kyalami was closely related to the contemporary Quattroporte III, which was offered with the same engines. A convertible prototype was built by Carrozzeria Frua but was rejected by Maserati. A total number of 210 units were produced.