2007 Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT

Los Angeles, which is Maserati's largest market in California, which is in turn Maserati's largest market in the U.S., which happens to be--you guessed it--Maserati's largest market in the world, was the site of the U.S. launch of Maserati's sexy Quattroporte Sport GT. First shown in Frankfurt last September, the Quattroporte Sport GT was conceived as sportier version of the brand's big sedan--if not a more powerful one. With enhancements on the decidedly subtle side, the Sport GT nonetheless should help remedy the car's major malady--the clunky six-speed manu-matic transmission--as the car boasts a reworked gearbox that allegedly shifts 35 percent faster than the frustratingly slow-witted previous tranny. The Sport GT model also gets twenty-inch wheels, suspension tweaks, and special interior accoutrements such as carbon-fiber trim and blue and red stitching for the steering wheel and parking brake. A mean-looking, blackened crosshatch grille also adorns the Quattroporte Sport GT.