The end of the twin-turbo era now that Maserati have developed a new normally aspirated 4.2-litre V8 engine for the Spyder.

With the launch of the Spyder at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2001 and the launch of the new Coupe at the Detriot Motor Show in January 2002, our fears were confirmed - it was the end of the road!!

Maserati have now ventured back into the lucrative US market it was forced to abandon in 1991. The reason for this abandonment being the development and production costs of meeting the strict US emission controls with the twin-turbocharger set-up. Producing a larger capacity normally-aspirated V8 has made life much easier for the technicians and the Biturbo era has been brought to a close.

Needless to say with the production figures now being achieved at Maserati, there will be specialist tuning houses producing souped-up versions and one of these houses will, I am sure, develop a turbocharged or supercharged conversion for the new Spyder and Coupe, so perhaps all is not lost!