The Maserati Merak is the mid-engine 2+2 Giorgetto Giugiaro designed alongside the Bora, launched in 1972 and produced through 1983. Where the Bora used the traditional Maserati V8, the Merak used the Alfieri-designed 3.0-litre V6 developed for the Citroën SM, mounted longitudinally and paired with a five-speed transaxle also sourced from the Citroën programme.
That combination allowed a genuine 2+2 layout — two occasional rear seats behind the front pair — inside a mid-engined car, and made the Merak a materially more attainable proposition than the V8 Bora. Approximately 1,830 examples were built across three variants: the original Merak (1972–75), the more powerful Merak SS (1976–82) and the smaller-displacement Italian-market Merak 2000 GT (1977–82).
The Merak is one of the great under-valued mid-engined cars of the 1970s: a Giugiaro-styled, Italian mid-engine 2+2 with the mechanical interest of a Citroën-Maserati collaboration and none of the Bora's price premium. As classic Ferrari 308 values have moved, the Merak has emerged as the attainable-but-serious alternative — genuinely interesting mechanically, small in production, and materially cheaper than its Modenese contemporary.
