The Maserati Karif (Tipo 339) is a luxury coupé produced by Maserati between 1988 and 1993. It was designed to be luxurious, but also sporty and agile to allow the driver to "feel like a racing driver again or for the first time".[3] At the car's unveiling, Alejandro de Tomaso declared a very limited production run of 250 examples.[4] Of these planned 250, only 222 were actually sold.
In a throwback to Maserati's earlier naming practices for two-seater GTs, the car was named after the wind called "Karif", which blows South West across the Gulf of Aden at Berbera, Somalia.[3][5]
The Karif was built on the same shortened chassis as the Zagato-bodied Maserati Spyder model, adding a fixed notchback coupé roof. It used the most powerful Maserati Biturbo engine: the AM473, a 2.8 L 90° V6engine with 3 valves per cylinder, producing 285 PS (210 kW) at 5500 rpm. According to Maserati the Karif could reach 100 km/h (62 mph) from a standstill in 4.8 seconds, and achieve a top speed of over 255 km/h (158 mph).[1][4] Other sources claim 248 PS (182 kW), and 224 PS (165 kW) for the later catalyzed model.[2] With these lower power outputs, claimed top speeds were 233 and 230 km/h (145 and 143 mph) respectively.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maserati_Karif
