Maserati recalls almost $110m worth of Italian luxury cars locally

Maserati is recalling almost $110 million worth of its luxury performance vehicles due to a rear suspension fault.

Affecting 425 cars in Australia, the recall is split between 340 Maserati Quattroporte sedans and 85 GranTurismo coupes â€" valued as new at more than $109.5 million combined.

According to the official recall notice published on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) website, the cars require replacement of both rear tie-rods, which control toe-in adjustment, because they may have been coated with an uneven thickness of paint, possibly leading to corrosion of the threaded ends.

“If the threaded part of the tie-rods corrodes, proper toe-in adjustment could be difficult to achieve, which may compromise steering and handling of the vehicle.”

Edward Rowe from Maserati’s Australian distributor, Ateco Automotive, told CarAdvice that due to the components involved being provided by different suppliers, “there is no simple set of build dates from date ‘x’ to date ‘y’”.

“Some cars are affected, others not,” Rowe said.

Owners of the affected cars will be contacted directly to organise the replacement of the suspect parts where required. The fix should take approximately three hours to complete, at no cost to owners.

The same rear tie-rod fault has resulted in 75 Maseratis to be recalled in New Zealand, along with two Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione supercars.

America’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) last month announced a recall of 7438 Maserati vehicles â€" including the 2005-2008 Quattroporte, 2008 GranTurismo, and 2008 Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione â€" for a similar rear tie-rod fault.

In November last year, Maserati recalled almost $7 million worth of its high-end vehicles across Australia, due to a defect with the tyre pressure monitoring systems of 24 vehicles including Quattroporte, GranCabrio, and GranTurismo models.