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The Plant

In 2009, FCA acquired the former Bertone assembly plant in Grugliasco near Turin, Italy. Through a clearly-defined and ambitious restructuring project and the hard work of a determined team, the Plant was transformed into an advanced production facility that makes premium vehicles for the Maserati brand.

Through an intensive change management process, the team at AGAP succeeded in integrating Maserati’s traditional principles of craftsmanship and attention to detail with a modern industrial approach. This radical improvement in processes made a major contribution to Maserati’s renewed global success.

With approximately 1,700 workers operating two shifts, the Plant currently produces around 140 cars a day.

Timeline

2009 - 2017

November 2009: FCA acquires Bertone assembly plant

November 2011: Restructuring and retooling for “New Maserati” project begins

October 2012: Pre-production launch of Maserati Quattroporte

January 2013: Plant inauguration and production launch of Quattroporte

July 2013: Production launch of Ghibli

November 2013: 10,000^th vehicle produced

December 2014: 50,000^th vehicle produced

December 2015: Plant awarded WCM Bronze

December 2016: 100,000^th vehicle produced

MODELS PRODUCED

In early 2013, the newly-restructured Plant began production of the Maserati Quattroporte.

Designed by creative genius Pietro Frua, the first Quattroporte presented in 1963 — a four-door saloon with a high-performance engine — represented a departure from the traditional Maserati sport coupé.

The Quattroporte delivers refined luxury paired with unmistakable Maserati performance. Muscular lines and elegant contours envelope a generous interior where, in the finest tradition of Italian craftsmanship, only the highest quality materials are used.

Now in its sixth generation, the brand’s flagship model is one of the most luxurious cars in production anywhere in the world.

In July 2013, the Grugliasco plant also began production of the more compact, yet equally alluring Maserati Ghibli.

The Ghibli captures the attention with sculpted forms and well-defined volumes connected by clean lines that create movement. The traditional oval grille becomes more rectangular and narrows at the top, where skillfully designed LED headlights underline the car’s strong character.

The 3-liter TwinTurbo V6 version offers improved fuel efficiency and emissions while still guaranteeing stunning performance. The engine delivers 410 horsepower and can go from 0-100 in just 4.8 seconds. The vehicle has also been recognized for its safety performance, including being named a Top Safety Pick and receiving the EuroNCAP 5 stars.

The pure elegance and exquisite Italian craftsmanship of the vehicle’s interior prompted AutoBild magazine to write: “The Ghibli stands out from its competitors like an Armani sports jacket among school boy uniforms”.

With these two models, Grugliasco has established itself as the production epicenter for the new era of the Trident.

Video

PLANT VIDEO TOUR

Video

Maserati and the Future of Manufacturing

THE PRODUCTION PROCESS

Body-in-White

The most highly-automated area of the Plant is the body-in-white (BIW) area. It is equipped with 86 robots and numerous fully-automated welding and adhesive application stations operated by highly-skilled personnel.

A design feature specific to both the Ghibli and the Quattroporte is that the frame is steel, but all moving parts are aluminum. Because of difficulties related to traditional spot welding with aluminum, the body shop adopted riveting technology used in the aerospace industry. This was the first time this specific technology had been used in the automotive industry.

A BIW can be assembled in around 5 minutes using more than 3,000 spot welds, 190 self-piercing rivets and some 80 meters of special adhesives.

The entire process is subject to numerous automated checks that ensure quality and geometric conformity.

Paint Shop

The BIW then begins to take on its new personality with one of Maserati’s 13 official paint colors being applied in the paint shop.

First, the BIW undergoes a sealing and anti-corrosion treatment, application of a protective primer, then painting by specialized robots and finally application of an advanced dual-resin coating that gives the vehicle its final gloss finish and is highly scratch resistant.

There is a quality gate for each individual process and, before leaving the paint shop, the bodies undergo a final inspection by a team of experts who ensure that the product is free of even the smallest imperfection.

Assembly

The assembly line was designed to offer maximum flexibility in product mix and customization of the two models on a single line.

The Assembly area is organized into three principal areas (trim, chassis, final) and three sub-groups (doors, instrument panels, engines) and maximum capacity is 200 vehicles a day operating two shifts.

In order to ensure the highest production quality and maintain the craftsmanship characteristic of the Maserati brand, the assembly process was designed to optimize the integration of advanced technologies with the experience of highly-skilled workers. All processes are manual with the exception of the robots used to fix the windscreen and rear window.

Quality

Quality is core to the values of the Maserati brand and the expectations of its customers. It is the meeting point between performance, efficiency and versatility. The level of excellence of every vehicle produced is a source of passion and pride for the AGAP team.

The Quality unit is active in all areas of the production process and it plays a vital role in ensuring that production conforms to the most stringent ISO 9001 quality management standards.

The Process, Product, Supply and Diagnosis areas of the Quality unit are responsible for monitoring and managing more than 700 aesthetic, performance and statistical checks and controls for each vehicle.

They inspect components from external suppliers, analyze conformity of all BIWs and vehicle systems, conduct periodic performance audits and issue guidelines for improvements in production processes.

Finally, the assembly line is equipped with five quality gates and all completed vehicles are then subjected to a Dynamic Performance Test over a 40 km mixed driving route.

WCM

Since beginning operation, the Plant has applied the principles of World Class Manufacturing adopted at Group plants worldwide. This integrated production methodology is core to the Plant’s mission of achieving and maintaining the highest standards necessary to compete in the Premium segment.

AGAP was awarded WCM Bronze in December 2015.