Maserati Drops the Top on the new GranCabrio

At last, after countless spy shots and months of waiting, we can present the convertible version of Maserati's stunningly beautiful GranTurismo coupe, the GranCabrio - not the best choice of names in our book... It's the Italian automaker's first-ever four-seater convertible and it will make its worldwide debut on September 15 at the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show with international sales set to start in the spring of 2010.

Even though most of the heavily disguised test mules of the GranCabrio featured a retractable hardtop, Maserati finally chose to offer the production model with an automatic canvas top, a decision that seems to have been dictated by 'mama' Fiat in order to differentiate it from the sportier Ferrari California.

Like the coupe variant, the convertible model has been styled by Italian design house Pininfarina and at least with the top down, we can say that the GranCabrio looks the part.

Maserati says that the GranCabrio has the longest wheelbase on the market of any convertible, promising to offer "proper seats" for all four passengers.

There are no changes under the hood as the GrandCabrio comes with the same powerhouse as the GrandTurismo S, which means a 4.7-liter V8 engine that cranks out 440HP at 7,000 rpm and 490Nm (362 lb-ft) of torque at 4,750 rpm. Power is sent to the rear wheels through the firm's dual-clutch, electro-actuated gearbox with fast MC-Shift arranged in the transaxle layout.

The Italian company did not disclose any performance figures but we expect the GranCabrio to be a tad slower the lighter GranTurismo which goes from zero to 100km/h (62mph) in 4.9 sec and achieves a top speed of 295 Km/h or 184 mph.