Demonstrating Epicor for Financial Services for the First Time in Bahrain

Bahrain — 10 March 2010 — Epicor Software Corporation (NASDAQ: EPIC), a leading provider of enterprise business software solutions for the midmarket and divisions of Global 1000 companies, today announced that Matt Muldoon, Epicor’s senior director of product marketing will be presenting at the ICAI Conference on 12 March 2010. Muldoon is presenting at 11.00 a.m. on the topic “Leveraging Technology for Better Financial and Risk Management,” educating local businesses on how they can use technology to improve accounting and risk management processes. Epicor will also use the event to demonstrate Epicor for Financial Services, its industry-specific next-generation Epicor 9 enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, together with its local partner Incarnate ICT.

“The financial services industry is under pressure to look at ways of improving governance, risk and compliance management, while reducing costs at the same time,” said Matt Muldoon, senior director, product marketing for Epicor. “Many businesses in the Middle East are running large, expensive and aging accounting systems, or are stuck with cumbersome manual processes—not realizing that there are other options. Any financial services organization that is serious about growing its business should have a financial platform that is cost-effective in the long term yet flexible enough to change with the business where and when needed.”

“As the financial capital of the region, Bahrain is an important hub for Epicor, and with more than 400 customers and 15 partners in the Middle East, we are well placed to support local businesses across all industries,” said Basil Daniells, regional director for Epicor in the Middle East, Africa, Turkey and India. “We have been present in the Middle East for over ten years and during that time we have helped organizations to improve business processes and grow operations locally, regionally and internationally.”

“Business technology is an important part of local BCICAI’s members’ roles today and we want to help them understand how they can better use technology to their advantage when managing finances and risks within their organizations,” said BCICAI chairman Alok Gupta. “As a global company with experience of solving financial challenges for small and large businesses we believe that Epicor is well placed to advise our members during the event this week.”

Epicor’s next-generation software provides support for the world’s most complex tax, currency, and legal standards. Available in 30 languages and 60 countries worldwide Epicor offers the financial services sector an innovative and flexible solution that has been built on a technologically advanced infrastructure. With comprehensive Financial Management and Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) capabilities, Epicor also has expanded functionality for measuring key performance indicators across all operational aspects, helping organizations further their financial goals. Advanced financial reporting capabilities and a sophisticated advanced allocations module help finance departments greatly simplify business processes, and be integral to tracking financial performance across the enterprise, providing new levels of efficiency, visibility and audit-ability.

Incarnate ICT (ME) WLL, Epicor Authorised Partner in Bahrain, will be jointly participating for the event. Incarnate ICT has always focussed on achieving excellence by providing customer designed, client specific, result oriented IT solutions for a diverse set of clients. Incarnate prides itself in its perseverance to understand the clients business objectives, issues, processes, and resources; and then provide an effective solution built on its comprehensive repertoire of technologies, which are a natural extension of the existing setup. Their services include enterprise application software, networking, security consulting, IT audit, bio metric solutions, helpdesk management, and others.

Saudi Build / Saudi Stone 2010 attracts new investors from Belgium, Egypt, UK, France and Taiwan

March 9, 2010

Real growth in the construction sector of Saudi Arabia reached 3.9 per cent in 2009 with real estate growing by 1.8 per cent according to a report from the Ministry of Finance, as sustained government expenditure and continued private sector investments drive new real estate and construction projects across the country. The positive growth trajectory has in turn generated a diverse range of business opportunities, while fuelling demand for the latest construction technologies, building material and equipment in the country.

In addition to a wide range of commercial and residential developments, Saudi Arabia has also embarked on a diverse range of education, transportation, agriculture and other infrastructure development projects, which has further boosted the demand for specialised construction technology and expertise. Large-scale projects being launched in the country include around 1,200 new schools in addition to some 3,112 schools currently under construction, and the rehabilitation of some 2,000 existing school buildings.

A total of 6,400 kilometres of road will also be constructed, adding to 35,000 km of roads currently under construction. The government has also appropriated a total of SAR 46 billion for various water, agriculture and infrastructure projects, representing an increase of 30 per cent over the previous year. The new budget covers construction of water sources, dams and wells, water and sewage networks, and water desalination plants.

Saudi Build / Saudi Stone 2010, the premier business-to-business platform for the Saudi construction and stone market, has revealed that demand for space at the exhibition has increased sharply, as the favourable market conditions attract regional and international industry payers. Saudi Build / Stone 2010 is scheduled for October 18 to 21 / Dhu-al-Qa’dah 10 to 13 1431 (H) at the newly completed Riyadh International Exhibition Center.

Shahid Bhatti, Project Manager of Saudi Build at Riyadh Exhibitions Company, said: “The continued growth in international participation reflects the strength and huge potential of the Saudi market, while underscoring the strategic importance of Saudi Build / Saudi Stone 2010 as a gateway for international exhibitors and visitors to explore a wide range of business opportunities in the country. This year’s edition is shaping up to achieve another record participation as real estate and construction market conditions remain bullish in Saudi Arabia. In fact, we have recently added Belgium, Egypt, UK, France and Taiwan to the growing list of country pavilions at the exhibition.”

The exhibition comprises ‘Saudi Build 2010 – the 22nd International Construction Technology and Building Materials Exhibition’, and ‘Saudi Stone 2010 – the 13th International Stone and Stone Technology Show’. The twin events expect an influx of thousands of industry-related visitors, including high-profile business leaders from Saudi Arabia and around the world, diplomats and high-ranking Saudi Government officials. Hundreds of exhibiting companies from Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia are also expected to attend.

To cater to the rising demand for stone, heavy machinery and construction equipment in Saudi Arabia, Saudi Build / Saudi Stone 2010 will have dedicated indoor and outdoor exhibition areas to serve exhibitors and visitors specialised in these market categories. Saudi Stone 2010 in particular will feature the most up-to-date stone, marble, granite, slate, and other natural products, while the PMV Series will feature market leaders in the heavy construction machinery and equipment sector.

This early, the number of country pavilions at Saudi Build 2010 has already increased to a total of 42 compared with 37 in 2009. The total exhibition area has also increased to reach around 30,000 SQM, compared to 23,000 SQM last year. Saudi Build is the only construction trade show in Saudi Arabia accredited by UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry. UFI certification is only granted to high-end professional events and experienced organisers with a distinguished record of attracting top-quality international exhibitors and select professional visitors.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, March 8, 2010: HP today announced that Sahara Petrochemicals Company (Sahara), a Saudi based industrial development company specializing in petrochemical, chemicals and related products, has selected HP BladeSystem and HP ProLiant servers solutions to automate and optimise its datacentre processes.

The new implementation is part of Sahara’s technology overhaul to support and meet its growth objectives.

The HP BladeSystem c7000 enclosure deployed at Sahara will allow it to consolidate its server, storage, network, power and management capabilities into a ‘datacenter in a box’. 

Additionally, the HP ProLiant BL460c G6 Server Blade will provide leading performance, expandability and the latest energy efficient technologies that are needed for a dense compute environment such as Sahara’s. The HP ProLiant Server Blade delivers excellent performance and energy savings to reduce overall datacenter spending in power constrained scale-out environments.

Commenting on the hardware implementation, Ihab Y. Hawari, IT Manager at Sahara said, “HP is our chosen technology partner to deliver both immediate business value and ongoing business advantage. When it came to selecting the right datacenter solution we studied the different offerings from various vendors that were available in the market and found that HP solutions best met the requirement of our IT infrastructure. Through this implementation our aim is to address our technology automation and flexibility challenges.”

Sahara has also implemented HP’s Virtual Connect Flex-10 10Gb Ethernet Module for BladeSystem which offers high performance connectivity to the datacenter and makes server administration and server applications more efficient.  With Virtual Connect, Sahara will be able to reduce costs and simplify connections to LANs and SANs, consolidate and precisely control their network connections and enable administrators to add, replace and recover server resources as an when it is needed. 

“The solutions implemented at Sahara offer the best-run IT infrastructure out of a box that is available in the market today. They are manageble, simple to operate and offers flexibility to expand depending on the company’s growth needs. It will also help Sahara reduce up-front capital costs and ongoing power and cooling costs. Our aim is to support companies in the manufacturing sector with our end-to-end solutions and allow them to realize the full potential of their business investment,” said Ali Tamimi, Enterprise Storage, servers and Networking Manager HP Saudi Arabia.
 
HP partners with the industry’s leading hardware and software providers to develop and implement solutions to help customers solve their most pressing datacenter transformation issues.

This move is part of the company’s expansion plan into the GCC market

Jeddah, 08 March 2010: averda, a leading regional environmental services company, has announced the launch of its operations in Saudi Arabia yesterday (March 7th, 2010) at the opening of the ‘Gulf Environmental Forum’ which runs until March 9th at the Hilton Hotel, Jeddah. The company, which is now ready to offer a full collection and disposal service for the private sector in Saudi Arabia, is currently showcasing its comprehensive range of services at stand H02. averda’s latest expansion initiative will cover the Eastern, Western and Central regions of Saudi Arabia.

Last year, the Kingdom produced 13 million tons of garbage, from a population of some 28 million, at a rate of approximately 1.3 kilograms per person each day. With the World Bank placing KSA as the 13th most ‘economically competitive’ country in the world, analysts believe that the country’s strong GDP, which implies higher consumer spending, is further fueling the production of waste. Moreover, the gradual shift from oil and gas production to the manufacturing and services sectors also plays a significant role in such massive waste generation. Construction debris in Riyadh alone has reached 2.1 million tons in 2009, with commercial and domestic waste adding another 1.4 million tons.

With an initial team of some 250 operatives in KSA, averda has the capacity to provide more effective and advanced recycling and resource management to the Kingdom. The company’s wide range of services include source separated collection, on-board weighing and on-line viewing and control.

Speaking at the event, Walid Shaar, averda’s Chief Operations Officer, said, “As far as recycling and resource management goes, the Middle East region and KSA in particular are steadily progressing in the right direction. Accordingly we are working very hard to introduce a new level of service that will help the region build an efficient waste-control system. As perceptions about the environment in the Middle East continue to gradually change, we believe that our entry into Saudi Arabia will encourage both the public and private sectors to adopt technologically advanced solutions for their resource management needs. We are proud to be making this announcement here at this event, and reiterate our commitment to the Saudi market.”

A key element of averda’s KSA-based operations is its ability to monitor its own environmental footprint through a fleet management tracking programme. The company sees such new technology as the standard model for servicing future environmentally friendly cities. In addition, averda has also specified and deployed a range of hybrid trucks and electrically operated vehicles to safely transport waste and discarded materials in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way. Finally, both labour and equipment are integrated and shared across averda’s broad range of services to manage costs and minimize downtime.

“We have high hopes for our latest venture, and we are optimistic about the impact we will have in the Kingdom’s recycling and resource management sector,” concluded Shaar.

Doha, 6 March 2010 - The 2010 International Handball Federation (IHF) Super Globe in Qatar will see the participation of the top handball teams featuring the best players from around the world when the competition gets underway from May 17 to 21 at the Al Sadd Sports Club. With the continental Champions League winners of Europe, star-studded Spanish side BM Ciudad Real already qualified, together with Pan American winners Unopar Fel / Sercomtel, and Oceania representative AHF Southern Stars, the only remaining teams are the Asian and African representatives which will be discovered through a qualification process in the coming month. Host country team Al Sadd was the final team to enter the draw on the 6th of March in Doha.

Under the new deal with IHF, signed by the IHF President Dr Hassan Moustafa and Vice President of Al Sadd Club, HE Sheikh Joaan Bin Hamad Al-Thani, the Super Globe will be organised annually in Qatar from 2010 to 2013 at Al Sadd Sport Club.

“In making this magnificent event a yearly competition we are bringing together in Qatar all of the top teams in the world for a competition which further assists the development of handball around the world. I am sure that we will witness a fantastic tournament which will emphatically portray the region’s handball passion to the world once more,” said Mr. Jassim Al Romaihi, Secretary General of the Al Sadd Sport Club.   

“I believe this exciting competition has found a wonderful host city for the next four years. We have a fantastic track record of hosting top class sporting events in Qatar, and we are committed to developing handball in Qatar and across our region. I strongly believe this tournament of the best teams in the world will generate a great deal of excitement in our country and help to develop the next generation of handball players from the Middle East. We have excellent sporting facilities to offer and we are looking forward to providing spectators and players alike with an extraordinary sporting event.”

The teams were drawn into groups in the logo launch and draw ceremony in Doha on Saturday. In Group A, BM Ciudad Real will meet Unopar Fel / Sercomtel and the African team which will qualify later. Al Sadd Club will meet the Asian representative and AHF Southern Stars in Group B.

BM Ciudad Real are amongst the favorites for the competition after winning the European Champions League, the European Super Cup and the Spanish League in a spectacular season. The team from central Spain has continued this sparkling run of form in the new season and remains unbeaten in the current European Champions League campaign after winning a tough-looking away fixture at FC Croatia Osiguranje 27-24 in Group C recently.

Local side Al Sadd Club will be looking to add further silverware to their glistening collection when the competition comes to their home stadium in May, having already won the same tournament in 2002 to add to their 5 Asian Champions League trophies, the last of which came in 2005. The Qatari club also has nine Qatari league titles to its name and will be looking to get off to a good start in a competition which also features the continental champions of Asia, Oceania and Pan-America.

“We are expecting a fascinating and highly competitive tournament here in Doha, and we wish all the participating teams the best of luck in the competition. There is no doubt, though, that handball will be the real winner when these high quality teams come together in Qatar in front of passionate spectators in spectacular sports facilities,” added Mr. Al Romaihi.
 

Last week, Her Excellency Shaikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa , Chairperson of the Board of the Trustees of Bahrain’s recently launched arbitration and mediation centre, BCDR-AAA , welcomed The Right Honourable Lord Woolf of Barnes and President of the QFC Civil and Commercial Court to the BCDR-AAA’s offices in Bahrain. Others present at the meeting were Ahmed Hussain, Chief Registrar Arbitration BCDR-AAA, Dr. Hassan Radhi Member of the BCDR-AAA Board of Trustees, Shaikh Abdulla bin Ahmad Al Khalifa and Malik Dahlan.

The BCDR-AAA opened its doors for business on 11 January 2010 and in doing so became the world’s first alternative dispute resolution centre to introduce statutory arbitration under section one of its decree which stipulates that cases where the amount contested exceeds 500,000BD (US$1.3million) will automatically be heard by the BCDR-AAA rather than the national courts.  It also became the first ever country to offer an arbitration “free zone” under section two of the decree which states that the national courts cannot interfere with the arbitral award granted by the BCDR-AAA where the two parties have agreed to be bound by the outcome.

Lord Woolf said: “I am very impressed by the openness and warmth in which I have been received by the BCDR-AAA.  The Chamber’s plans are very exciting and reflect forward looking approaches to dispute resolution.  The two part approach (statutory arbitration and the arbitration “free zone”) is both sensible and constructive and I would expect that the initiative will be very successful. The BCDR-AAA has a very long future which will be most important for Bahrain in particular and in the region in general.

I hope that there is going to be close co-operation between the QFC Civil and Commercial Court and ADR Centre in Doha and the BCDR-AAA because both in their respected ways are determined to assist those who seek help to resolve their disputes expeditiously, fairly and in a most straight forward manner.”

H.E. Shaikha Haya bint Rashid AL Khalifa, Chair of the BCDR-AAA said: “We are honoured to have received Lord Woolf at the BCDR-AAA.  He is an eminent legal figure of the highest order.  It is very important that arbitration and mediation centres in the region and in the world communicate.”.

Ahmed Husain, Chief Registrar, BCDR-AAA added: “The BCDR-AAA and the QFC Civil and Commercial Courts understand that the Gulf as a region is growing rapidly.  Foreign direct investment and the increase of multinationals in the region means that legal arbitration frameworks of the highest standard are needed in order to attract and maintain international trade and investment.”

Annual 3.5 per cent growth of ME construction sector to hike demand for engineering, procurement & construction management expertise

Collaboration, Management and Control Solutions (CMCS) - Saudi Arabia, a leading provider of project portfolio management (PPM) solutions in the MENA region, has signed a strategic partnership agreement with SOFCON Group to offer project management solutions and services to all SOFCON’s projects in the Middle East region. SOFCON is one of the fastest growing multi-disciplined engineering and project management (E&PM) providers in the region.

Under the multi-million Saudi Riyal deal, CMCS will carry out project management maturity assessment, professional project management development, and Oracle Primavera project management software and collaboration software installation, training and implementation, among other key services. SOFCON is enhancing its project management capacity as part of a broader E&PM efficiency buildup in preparation for a projected annual growth rate of 3.5 per cent in the Middle East construction sector. In the Gulf, almost 70 per cent of registered projects are still ongoing, with active civil building developments alone worth over USD 1.3 trillion.

“The Middle East’s engineering and construction industries have remained relatively stable despite the persistence of the global downturn. However, engineering firms cannot just remain complacent, they have to continuously improve their service levels so that they can engage in all types of project opportunities that come their way. Through our advanced PM and PPM solutions we intend to help bring SOFCON at the forefront of the region’s rapidly evolving engineering markets,” said Bassam Samman, CEO and Founder, CMCS.

“When we outlined our goals for our E&PM growth strategy we identified PM as a critical area for expansion.  After considering some of the region’s top PM experts we decided that CMCS’s ISO-certified approach to PM solutions was the best fit for our vision. We expect projects to start picking up this year as the engineering and construction sectors accelerate their market corrections. We look forward to serving our target markets in the region through CMCS’s PM capabilities,” added Alaa Fattani, President & CEO, SOFCON Group.

SOFCON offers comprehensive Design, Engineering and Project Management services for the Oil & Gas, Petrochemicals, Telecommunications, Utilities and Infrastructure sectors. The company’s corporate office is based in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, while its international headquarters is located in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Some of its prominent clients include Saudi Aramco, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), Saudi Electricity Company, Royal Commission and Maaden.

SOFCON is the latest strategic partner of CMCS, which recently became the first project management consultancy in the UAE to receive ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System Certification, the most widely recognized quality benchmark in the world. Under this strategic partnership agreement, CMCS and SOFCON will offer similar services to other key clients in various sectors in Saudi Arabia.

CMCS provides advanced project and portfolio management (PPM) solutions to over 1,400 clients from various industries ranging from engineering and construction to media and entertainment. It is an authorized Middle East representative of Oracle Primavera’s line of Enterprise Project Portfolio Management Applications, as well as Hard Dollar, Deltek, EcoSys, ADePT, eTimeMachine and Synchro.

7 March, 2010 - Misys plc (FTSE: MSY.L), the global application software and services company, today announced that QNB, the leading national bank in Qatar, has licensed Misys BankFusion™ Equation to ensure it has the most modern technology platform available to underpin its business strategy.

QNB has the largest distribution network in Qatar, comprising 44 branches in addition to eleven Islamic branches and offices operated by its Islamic banking subsidiary QNB Al Islami, and more than 160 ATMs. QNB’s international presence is rapidly expanding to include new locations around the world to supplement long-established branches in London and Paris.  The Bank has affiliates and subsidiaries in 22 countries including, most recently Syria and Switzerland where the Bank commenced operations in 2009.

QNB is also among the highest rated regional banks according to leading credit rating agencies including Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s, Fitch, and Capital Intelligence.

BankFusion Equation tailors business processes to the exact requirements of each bank eliminating any constraints of underlying technology. BankFusion Equation automatically generates the system’s Java code, significantly reducing manual input and errors and accelerating solution modifications. This helps bring new solutions to market faster and better serve customers.

In this latest release of the solution, Equation has been re-architected into an SOA environment using Misys’ revolutionary BankFusion™ platform. Misys BankFusion Equation provides improved security and risk management capabilities as well as the flexibility to scale the business rapidly when required. 

“QNB is one of the most advanced banking groups in the GCC region and invests considerable resources in deploying innovative technology and expertise to ensure the seamless delivery of its banking solutions to customers,” the bank states. “Advanced platforms such as BankFusion Equation serve the strategic growth objectives of QNB Group by, most importantly, providing an automated risk management framework, whilst seamlessly integrating with existing systems and technologies.”

QNB is already a leader in modern banking solutions such as straight through processing of foreign currency transactions and has won awards from Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan for the quality of its Euro and Dollar payments. The Bank is also one of the first institutions in Qatar to have developed an integrated eBanking platform. Branded “EAZYLife”, it is a suite of internet, mobile, telephone and ATM banking solutions serving customers in Qatar and abroad.

Guy Warren, EVP and General Manager, Banking, Misys states, “The ground-breaking technology in BankFusion Equation will allow QNB to launch innovative new products and services quickly to the market.  The management team has chosen to invest in Misys, our BankFusion strategy and the future roadmap of the solution.  This gives them the most modern, flexible next-generation core banking platform available on the market today to underpin the bank’s operations.”

Blockbuster movies and television series from the Disney media empire will soon be screened free-to-air in the Middle East after a new deal was signed this past month in Dubai. The Disney Company is more than just the Mickey Mouse studio you knew as a kid.  Today, Disney is one of the three largest media and entertainment conglomerates in the world.  The organization owns entities such as ABC television channel, Pixar animation studio, and a host of successful film production houses.

Disney is now partnering with two regional free-to-air channels, Fox Movies and Fox Series, for a period of at least five years. The two free-to-air channels were launched in the past year and are joint ventures between Fox and the Saudi-owned Rotana Group. Rotana is owned by Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, the billionaire investor who is a major shareholder of both Disney and News Corporation, which is the parent company of Fox. In the last six months, News Corporation has been eyeing investments in Rotana with some reports putting the figure at 10 – 20%.  This most recent deal saw Rotana pay Dhs 100 million to Disney for the rights to screen its content.

The deal means Fox Movies now has the rights to screen films such as There will be Blood, Up, and The Chronicles of Narnia for the first time on free-to-air TV in the region. Fox Series also has the rights to Lost, Ugly Betty, Private Practice and Desperate Housewives and will air the latest seasons exclusively.

Looking at the television market in the Middle East, pay television channels are accessed by less than 5 per cent of the region’s television viewers! Perhaps this is why the free-to-air market is expanding at such a rapid pace.  Nevertheless, don’t throw away those satellite systems just yet; free-to-air still has a long way to go.

Doha, 03 March 2010: Alfardan Sports Motors Company, the exclusive dealer of Maserati and member of Alfardan Group, recently launched Maserati Trident’s third prong- the Maserati GranCabrio. A press conference was held at the Alfardan Sports Motors Company showroom at the heart of The Pearl-Qatar seeing the attendance of officials from Doha and Italy to take the wrap off this latest addition to Maserati’s elegant and mind-blowing automotive showcase.

Alfardan Sports Motors Company brought home many of Maserati’s award-winning, flagship models such as the Maserati Quattroporte Automatic and the Maserati GranTurismo achieving significant sales growth and market share during the past two years owing to the company’s unparalleled sales and after-sales services and Maserati’s unique, awe-inspiring and glamorous designs.

Mr. Mohammed Kandeel, General Manager of Alfardan Sports Motors Company said: “The GranCabrio’s very first debut in Frankfurt was applauded by many, and most importantly by automotive critics and connoisseurs. Maserati introduces its GranCabrio to sweep accolades and testimonials and to turn into this year’s all-in-one fascinating four seater. We’re very thrilled to feature Maserati’s GranCabrio in our showroom. If Maserati GranTurismo made it to the top of our sales growth charts, then we’re equally confident that the GranCabrio will have as strong a mark on our records for the year.”

Mr. Umberto Cini, Managing Director of Maserati Middle East & Africa said: “Today, the GranCabrio takes it top down to complete the Trident’s famed prongs and to cater to the individual tastes of Maserati’s enthusiasts whose automotive preferences are guided by elegance, beauty, comfort and performance. The name, GranCabrio, evokes Maserati’s renowned traditions and expertise. At the same time, it underlines how much the car differs from every model that has preceded it. The GranCabrio is the first four-seater convertible to come out of the factory gates in Viale Ciro Menotti. It offers the chance to share a fantastic ride, one enhanced by top quality materials. GranCabrio is Maserati’s exclusive take on the need to live exciting experiences.”

The introduction of the GranCabrio completes Maserati’s product line-up that now consists of three different families of models: Quattroporte, GranTurismo and GranCabrio.

The GranCabrio represents the very essence of Maserati in terms of open-top cars.  It’s a Maserati in the purest sense of the word: from the unmistakable style by Pininfarina to the spacious interior, from the craftsmanship of each detail to the driving pleasure and performance. The Maserati GranCabrio enriches all five senses in a shared open-air experience, without sacrificing comfort and performance.  A dream car designed and built for men and women who love to live life in an understated – though sophisticated - manner.  Like all the made-in Maserati open-top convertibles special cars, the GranCabrio aims at completing the lifestyle of refined connoisseurs.

The GranCabrio is continuing the Maserati tradition in open-top fine automobiles, beginning with the 1950 A6G Frua Spyder, and continuing through a long list of significant and thrilling open air models. However, in adding to this tradition, the GranCabrio opens a new chapter, with the first four-seater top-down model ever to be produced at the Viale Ciro Menotti Maserati factory in Modena. Four proper seats are provided so that the rear passengers are not merely supporting actors, but co-stars of the journey.

The GranCabrio is powered by a 4.7 liter V8, 440 HP engine and is the convertible with the longest wheelbase on the market. The GranCabrio’s roof is strictly canvas-made, emphasizing the link with the Maserati tradition.