Frankfurt Show: Maserati GranCabrio Photo Galore

Maserati blew the top off the dazzling convertible version of it GranTurismo coupe, which goes by the name GranCabrio, at the Frankfurt Show today. The first four-seater convertible in the history of the Italian automaker borrows the GranTuismo S' 440HP 4.7 liter V8 engine which is paired with a 6-speed automatic transmission. All it takes for the driver and the passengers to enjoy an open-air experience is a push of a button and 28 seconds latter presto, the cloth top is neatly tucked away under a special compartment behind the rear seats.

The Italian firm's engineers paid particular attention to vehicle's aerodynamics, with the creation of a flat aluminum base that not only adds to the overall body's rigidity but also reduces Cx by 6 points. Amazingly and for the first time -or so Maserati claims- the topless version is able to maintain the same aerodynamic performance of the coupe, with a Cx of 0.35.

The new Maserati GranCabrio will be available for order this coming winter, with first deliveries expected to arrive the following spring of 2010.

NOTE: New Zoom Function for Photo Albums

In our never-ending quest to better our blog, (we'll list the changes in a post after the Frankfurt Show), one of the latest additions is a new zoom function for the photo galleries. The pictures not only load faster now but they also open in the same page and more importantly, are automatically re-sized according to the width/height of your browser screen without affecting the download size that remains the same.

Try it out after you refresh your browser and tell us what you think. If there's a bug, we'd appreciate it if you sent us an e-mail, and yes, a next-previous image function is in the works