Investigators Uncover Multi-Million Pound Tax Scam in India; European Exotics And Foreign Diplomats

In what sounds more like the plot of a The Fast and the Furious movie than real life, investigators at India’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence office (a.k.a. India’s IRS) have uncovered a massive exotic car smuggling operation in the nation’s capital of New Dehli. It all has to do with India’s notorious 100% import tax on new luxury vehicles.
It began with one New Dehli luxury car dealer, Sumit Walia, importing brand new luxury cars on forged invoices. These invoices listed the cars as second-hand, which saved Walia – and his customers – some 40% on import tax. Some of the cars – which included Porsches, Bentleys and Aston Martins – were found to have been stolen from the streets of Britain, France, Singapore and Japan.
A month later, another scam – involving a London-based British-Indian car dealer and diplomats from New Delhi’s North Korean and Vietnamese embassies was uncovered. The diplomats would act as middle-men for rich buyers; buying the exotics under their names and therefore getting them tax-free. An official Directorate of Revenue Intelligence office had this to say about the investigation:
“Our investigators suspect around 300 to 400 luxury cars have been imported on fake papers and sold in all major cities across India using the same modus-operandi. The cars have been sold to politicians, celebrities, cricketers, Bollywood actors and many businessmen in the last four to five years.”
Some 40 cars have been impounded, including several Porsche Panameras and Aston Martin Rapides valued at £250,000 and £290,000 per unit. A £350,000 Bentley Continental Supersport was also among those vehicles recovered. Other vehicles have simply been abandoned by their owners on the streets of New Dehli. Investigators found that most of these vehicles were either illegally registered or displayed temporary plates.

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Alfa Romeo 4C: Spawn Maserati, Abarth Variants

If Alfa Romeo wanted tο get peοple talking with the debut οf its 4C concept in Geneva, they succeeded. The Internet is abuzz with rumοrs οf its production pοtential. There have already been repοrts that the Alfa will spearhead the marque's full-fledged return tο North America, tο be followed by bοth Spider and Abarth versions. Nοw, wοrd is that Maserati cοuld get a derivative, either.

If the reports prοve accurate and the spinoffs cοme tο fruition, that wοuld mean three brands within the Fiat group will get their οwn versions οf the lightweight, mid-engined, fοur-cylinder sports car.

And that's befοre any οf the Chrysler brands get a crack at it, because a Dodge version tο pick up where the Circuit concept left οff could be mοst tempting. The Maserati version wοuld naturally be positioned and appοinted differently frοm the Alfa οr Abarth models. The questiοn is whether the market can bear mοre than οne Elise rival from Fiat/Chrysler, let alοne multiples.

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2020 Maserati GT Garbin Concept

Jaime Cervantes, Andrea Coccia, and Chetan Rajput, a trio of students from the Transportation Design at the Politecnico di Milano in Italy, have come up with a design study that is fit to wear the Maserati crown. Under the guidance of Fiat, these students chose to create a design study of what a Maserati GranTurismo inspired vehicle would look like in 2020 with a throwback to the Maserati Ghibli produced in the late sixties/early seventies. It goes by the name of Maserati GT Garbin, but its look is anything but retro with some unique and modern interpretations.

The GT Garbin’s surface language features discontinuous shapes and luminescent fabrics as seen a fashion design concept called the Armani Collection Privé 2010. The modern edge was added through the use of dramatic, futuristic shapes inspired by the Opera Theatre of Valencia, by Calatrava. The sparkle comes in the form of various blue LED lights scattered throughout the exterior and unique doors that open outward and then slide forward. A typical Maserati grille was thrown in there for good measure.

The same design language was brought to the interior of the vehicle and is used to connect the door panels to the dashboard. The GT Garbin Concept can fit four adults in seats that seem to be a little awkwardly shaped. A long piano-black center console breaks up the look of the interior and houses the air conditioner, navigation, and entertainment system controls.

This concept was sponsored by Fiat, so the GT Garbin will use the same 4.7 liter V8 engine as seen on the Maserati GranTurismo. Not that we will ever see this concept out on the road. Then again, that’s what many people said about the Lamborghini Indomable Concept and now the Mostro DiPotenza SF22 is a major work in progress.

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Maserati GranTurismo MC 2011

Remember the Maserati GranTurismo MC Stradale that was introduced last year at the Paris Auto Show? The Italian sportscar maker has brought a ‘softer’ version of the MC to the States that drops the “Stradale” word from its name. That is because the GranTurismo MC has a full automatic gearbox instead of the original Race Shift transmission and two extra seats in the back instead of a roll cage. Even so, the Granturismo MC is the fastest series production model Maserati has ever sold in America.
With a top speed of 298 km/h (185 mph) and a 0-100km/h (62mph) time of 4.9 seconds, the GranTurismo MC is 3 km/h and 0.3 seconds slower than the Euro-spec MC Stradale. The reason is that the full automatic transmission can't match the response of the Race Shift box. Furthermore, the rear seats add weight to the car, although Maserati didn't release any specific numbers. These modifications were made to suit the tastes of U.S. consumers, with the company claiming that the GranTurismo MC is “aimed at a slightly more luxurious market”.
Developed by the Maserati Corse division (hence the MC nameplate), the car is powered by a 4.7-liter V8 engine delivering 450 horsepower at 7,000 rpm and 510 Nm (376 lb-ft) of torque at 4,750 rpm (20 Nm of torque more than the GranTurismo S Automatic).
Visually, the GranTurismo MC is identical to its European cousin, sans the colored turn signals and the black mirror caps and door handles. The MC was launched at Maserati's new showroom in the TriBeCa area of New York, with information on pricing and production numbers to be released at a later date.

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Maserati Quattroporte 2030

The Maserati Quattroporte 2030 Concept is Yaroslav Chumachenko's vision of where Maserati's large sedan could be design-wise should we end up in the world of Minority Report and Tom Cruise is knocking at your door for that crime you're about to commit.
Chumachenko, a 25-year old Ukrainian designer, drew inspiration from dinosaur skeletons, zeppelins, and the Maserati Birdcage to create a car that is futuristic and unique: its modular platform would allow engineers to replace the car's various systems as they evolve and the panels would be uniquely customizable for each customer (in theory).
Its curvaceous exterior body panels use "Stereolithography additive manufacturing technology", the benefits of which are a quick formation process and the ability to adapt to any customer's request, while the four doors - larger front units and smaller rears - can actually fuse magnetically to become two larger doors (or, conversely, simply open as smaller front doors and leave the rear doors in position).
Beneath its body panels, the Quattroporte 2030 has a backbone consisting of the engine and transmission (its "vertebrae"), around which is a rib cage that functions as structural reinforcement and protective bracing.
This is definitely a concept that would most definitely be welcome on the show circuit, hearkening back to the long overhang-wearing pods of the 70's. Something like this would be much more entertaining to view than these "concepts" companies release purely as a means of gauging public reaction to a production car.

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