Maserati GranCabrio Fendi; half Maserati, half handbag

Maserati GranCabrio Fendi - a handbag on wheels

Car maker like to hang a label on a special edition, and Italian car makers quite like the label to be ‘Designer’. Which at least explains the Maserati GranCabrio Fendi, just as it did the Fiat 500 Gucci. Whether it forgives it…

So brace yourself for the world of pretension and ‘style’. We’ll refrain from saying style over substance because the Maserati GranCabrio is a fine car. But the GranCabrio Fendi is about making a style statement. And only you can decide if it’s a statement you want to make.

On the car front it’s a very good statement. In terms of bang for your buck on the cool convertible Italian stakes, the GranCabrio scores highly.

With its 4.7 litre Ferrari V8 it has decent performance (although we’d have preferred to see Maserati use the GranCabrio Sport as a starting point), with 175mph top speed and a 0-62mph of 5.4 seconds.

But if you’re buying the GranCabrio fettled by Fendi, then you’re buying it for the Fendi input. So what do you get?

Well, you get a three-layered paint job called ‘Grigio Fiamma Fendi’ which is a special Dark Grey with iridescent gold finish on the top. The wood on the inside is ‘ Pergamena Fendi’, which runs right across the dash, bolted on the doors and on the gearknob in all its Fendi yellowness.

That Fendi yellowness also stretches to the brake callipers and to the stitching which makes up the Trident logo on the seats. Fendi-ness also appears in Fendi double-F logo on the seats, in the middle of the 20″ alloys and the Fendi logo on the rocker panel.

Extra touches include the use of Fendi’s poshest leather - Cuoio Romano – to swathe the instrument cover, gear level and the edges of the floor mats. You can even have it on the optional luggage set.

If you want a Maserati GranCabrio, buy one – it’s a good car. If you want a Fendi handbag buy one of those – the Fendi Baguette handbag is apparently very desirable.

But we really can’t see why anyone would want to part with their money for the combination of the two in the Maserati GranCabrio Fendi.

(3 photos – click any thumbnail for full size)

By Cars UK