How a Maserati is made: focus on body shell production & paint work

The construction of the body shell is one of the most important processes in the entire car production cycle, and no exceptions are made for Maserati. The Trident marque has been working with ITCA, an extremely specialized company from Turin, Italy which is in charge of making the Quattroporte and GranTurismo body shells.

Maserati was the first automobile company in the world, through ITCA, equipping its product cycle with a robot for seaming the hood and doors which ultimately minimizes errors and provide better parts shape and geometry at the same time. The seaming robots are welding modified robots that replace the clamps with steel rollers, avoiding the inconvenience of having electrodes during the welding process.

The monocoque for both models is in steel sheets electrically coated in zinc on both sides to assure protection from rusting. To further improve quality, the monocoque is now made from steel sheet bi-coated in zinc for an even more rust resistance. The body shell production cycle takes place in two assembly jig lines, one for welding and the other one for quality control. Assembly jigs are tools used to positioning bodywork parts (such as roof frame, front framework and rear crossbar) and the outer layer to then have either manual or automatic closures. The assembly jig lines have three jigs each, where the outer layer, the C-pillars and the roof panel are welded. Maserati chassis are typically stiffer and more robust than other manufacturers thanks to its single piece roof with C-pillar welded to rear quarter. CO2 soldering is used all over the car apart from A and C pillars where copper is instead employed. Other manufacturers typically have the spot welds on the roof instead.

Doors, trunk and hood are mounted in the welding production line, where chassis are checked against established gauges on the windscreen, rear window and mirror mounting points. In the quality control line, the bodywork is instead checked for any pockets or imperfections; the welding is tested to make sure it meets all the quality standards under the Initial Customer Perception (ICP) index. The last steps involve the cleaning of the bodies to have eventual metallic residue removed before sending them to the Ferrari Factory in Maranello for the paint finish. The entire paint process lasts four days from the arrival date of the unpainted body shell from ITCA in Turin to the final checks. Several are the manual and automatic stages involved in the paintwork that provide unrivaled quality standards. Temperature and humidity are also constantly monitored to ensure optimum conditions during the overall paint process.

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Maserati Silicon Valley provides new and Used Maserati to Silicon Valley's affluent communities. Discover the Maserati GranTurismo Convertible and the Maserati Cost of the vehicles currently in stock.

Author (maseratisiliconvalley). Submitted on Mon, 6 Feb 2012 Time: 10:54 AM

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