Stellantis Hung a “For Sale” Sign on Maserati. Who Should Buy It?
It must be jarring when you find out you’re for sale on a company executive’s phone call with journalists, but that’s what just happened to Maserati and its employees. “There could be some point in the future when we look at what’s the best home” for Maserati, said the chief financial officer of Stellantis, the conglomerate that owns the brand. That is a CFO’s way of saying, “Somebody make us an offer.”
(Editor’s note: Since our initial report, Stellantis has responded with an official comment that it does not intend to sell Maserati. You can read about their response here.)
This happened several days ago in a conference call with Natalie Knight, Stellantis CFO, as reported by an Automotive News correspondent in Europe. In the call, Knight expressed understandable disappointment that Maserati sales, for the first half of 2024, had fallen by more than half, from 15,300 in the first six months of 2023, to about 6500 vehicles during that period this year. “The brand had an adjusted operating loss of €82 million ($89 million), from a profit of $131 million in 2023,” Automotive News said. (The Stellantis conference call and webcast are available here, if you’re interested.)
As it transitions away from established internal-combustion (ICE) models and tries to pivot to electric power, the brand could be product-starved. “At the end of last year,” the story said, “Maserati ceased production of the Ghibli midsize sedan and Quattroporte large sedan, and at the end of March it stopped the Levante large SUV.” Maserati announced a year ago that it would be discontinuing all V-8 models.
That said, those gas-powered models are still being marketed on the U.S. version of the Maserati website, along with the Grecale crossover—the company’s volume leader, which shares a platform with the Alfa Romeo Stelvio—as well as the GranTurismo and GranCabrio, the MC20 sports car and the MC20 Cielo convertible.
Then there is the “adrenelectric” Folgore (“lightning” in Italian) line of all-electric vehicles, beginning with the 2024 GranTurismo Folgore, and continuing with the 2025 Grecale Folgore. The Grecale, with the base ICE engine, starts at $69,900, and is Maserati’s entry-level model. The electric Grecale Folgore starts at $109,000.
The all-wheel-drive GranTurismo Folgore, which is leading Maserati’s electric-vehicle premium performance charge, starts at $193,995, and boasts an available 818 horsepower in “Max Boost” mode, 276 more than its gasoline-powered counterpart. The 0-to-60 mph time is a reported 2.7 seconds. The tri-motor 2025 GranCabrio Folgore, the convertible version of the GranTurismo Folgore coupe, is expected to start at $207,000. Even at that price, it will have the electric-convertible market to itself for a while.
In a subsequent conference call with journalists, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares put an even finer point on CFO Knight’s comment about finding a new home for Maserati. The three-and-a-half-year-old Stellantis, which has more than a dozen brands, is apparently feeling the pinch. “If they don’t make money, we’ll shut them down,” Tavares said, a chilling and much-quoted comment in business circles worldwide. “We can not afford to have brands that don’t make money.”
Indeed, Stellantis’ operating income was down more than $9 billion in the first half of 2024, and the second half is looking similarly grim.
This seems to be an odd strategy for Tavares to potentially place some of his brands on the market: He’s essentially saying, “We’re tired of losing money with this brand. So who wants to buy it?” (These are the Stellantis brands. Which ones would you shut down, or try to sell? Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroën, Dodge, DS Automobiles, Fiat, Jeep, Lancia, Maserati, Opel, Peugeot, Ram, and Vauxhall.) And keep in mind that Tavares also said the U.S. market is his biggest problem.
“We consider that the job is done in Europe,” he said. “The job is not done in the U.S. and we are now going to take care of that work.”
And perhaps more to the topic, especially considering Knight’s statement about Maserati, and what might be the brand’s “best home”—who would be the optimum buyer? In a just-published analysis, Automotive News suggests it’s Ferrari. It would not be the first time the two brands have linked up: During Fiat’s ownership of Ferrari, from 1969 to 2015, Fiat bought Maserati in 1993. Four years later, Fiat essentially sold half of Maserati to Ferrari. That was a turbulent marriage, and in 2005, Maserati partnered with Alfa Romeo.
Five years later, Fiat gathered Maserati, Alfa, and Abarth into one group. In 2014, of course, Fiat took over Chrysler, forming Fiat Chrysler; seven years later, Fiat Chrysler merged with the PSA Group (brands included Citroën, DS, Opel, Peugeot and Vauxhall) and Stellantis was born.
Back to the point: Ferrari did fine as part of Fiat, but since it went independent in 2016, it has flourished. Last year, its market capitalization was pegged at $57.2 billion, greater than Honda and only $3.5 billion shy of Stellantis. The Automotive News analysis rightly suggests that Ferrari has the money to invest in Maserati, and both could benefit from mutual investment in technology, including powertrains.
Really, I’m not sure who else could be an effective steward of Maserati, and its storied 110-year history. Elon Musk and Tesla could take a wild swing at it, hastening Maserati’s move to exclusively electric powertrains, but Musk likely has enough on his plate. And the days are gone when Ford, General Motors and Chrysler had the money to absorb vanity brands.
We’d love to read your thoughts in the comments below.
Is it worth the bother for a Kia/Hyundai to add it to their mix?
Tata doesn’t need it (Jaguar seems to be failing…)
Maybe Geely?
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Stellantis’ problem is the USA… that is interesting. Rams sell, Jeeps sell, V8 Chargers and Challengers sold… minivans sell in Canada… not sure any of the other brands Stellantis has have much presence in the market? (I also don’t follow if Fiat 500s are a great success in the USA).
Ram and Jeep sales have stalled with a sluggish market, high interest and more defect issues since Stellantis dumped many of the Engineers at Auburn Hills.
The Challenger and Charger sold but no one invested in it and profits were not enough to help FCA and they had to sell out.
Minivans are waning. As for Fiat success? It has tanked.
Only Jeep and Ram hold value. But they are struggling now. Stellantis is just not investing in them like FCA did.
The real trouble is the small CUV market is where the money is. They lack many of these girl Dodge and Chrysler and the Fiat based Jeeps are not doing well.
I have heard the Chinese may be interested in Chrysler. If not they will be gone. If the coming Dodge I6 fails Dodge will be gone. Stellantis priority is Europe so if they are not making money here they will sell it close what we have.
Alfa could be sold too.
No V8 will hurt Ram. A new V8 should still be an option.
The only two groups that might be interested are China. Or Ferrari if the price is right. They will take it only if it is cheap.
Greater *than Honda
All this no more ICE V8 stuff is nuts. People want them. These engines are vastly more efficient and powerful than before. Maserati walked away from their customers. And those customers put up with some really awful quality and engineering but kept buying and leasing. If you don’t have something to sell, how can you make money???? And who the heck is Natalie Knight?
Hopefully Ferrari will buy Maserati at a knock down price and invest in it.
As an aside, my coworker has Ghibli q4 2019. She bought it and loves it. Sounds awesome and looks astonishing among the crossovers in the office lot. The paint is perfect in the sun, and the details really are well thought out. What a waste to just stop making the car.
Natalie Knight. Look her up. No wonder she tanked Maserati and is looking to dump it. She worked at the parent company of Stop and Shop Supermarkets and Adidas. Real automobile person there? Perishables and quick fashion have little to do with a storied auto brand.
Could they kill the Chrysler brand? Chrysler currently has only the minivans and the out of production 300.
Reports are the minivans would go to Dodge. They would close or sell the name. A China MFG is reported to be interested interested in the name. They already have Volvo, MG and other names.
Ferrari is the first company that’ll likely get a crack at Maserati, since the same guy who owns a good share of Stellantis also still has quite the stake in Ferrari. After that, it’s likely someone from China. I can’t imagine any EU brand would want it, nor any of the Korean & Japanese brands either, if I could also assume that. That’d leave Ford and GM, and that’s a double no, so I have to imagine if it doesn’t stay in Italy or gets bought by a Chinese company, it’ll likely be dropped.
Stelllantis (use only as directed) has been a poor caretaker of it’s brands. It has too many brands and it is making the same cars under too many brands. I see a Chinese company buying it for the name and another way into the USA market.
Let Maserati die with some little last shreds of dignity and then rest in peace. Many others have and at certain point – ‘ You need to just (sob) …let them go’. – That is until someone buys and resurrects the name.
Little tear in the corner of my eye while writing this, but honestly, I find nothing to argue about in what Paul is saying here.
Better now than the Chrysler TC / Maserati days. Iaccoca tried to shamelessly bilk the public based solely on a name and reputation. He always was in truth a huckster who would revel in success and blame others for failure. So, at the very least, Stellantis is not trying to put a trident on a turd such as that.
This is a challenging and evolving financial (and tech) market. In this current world there will be leaders, followers , and losers. That being said, I found that family, friends, as well as myself a tendency NOT to spend wildly. If spending in on the agenda, it’s done thoughtfully and conservatively. I recently purchased a GR 86 Premium, and a Subaru Forester while ditching the BMW and Thunderbird. Add that to high price tags, mediocre dealers support , and frankly crummy out of date warranty policies and you can hear the ticking bomb in the CFO’s office of boutique Euro car markers and high warranty claim cars in America (Ford/Dodge). I am NOT about to purchase car with a small turbo motor, all electric car, or any vehicle with a poor durability record sporting a warranty that was less my new ’68 Mustang GT in the day. I am sure, I am not alone here. Exotics, and may domestics are just too expensive to repair. Case in point, Ford warranty issues have created a sales quarter 48% less than a year ago!
I always thought the perfect parent company for Maserati would be Mazda. It’d be cool to have my very own Mazderati. (I’m here all week, folks!)