Maserati to revamp strategy after low sales, profits

Last year, we had reported that Maserati sales had fallen sharply. Now, according to a media report, the company is planning a new strategy to overcome this.

FCA CEO Michael Manley admitted that pairing Maserati with Alfa Romeo was an organisational mistake. Manley has now appointed Harald Wester as the head of Maserati. He has been tasked to create a new management team and come up with a new plan for the company. Wester previously held the same position from 2008 to 2016.

According to the CEO, the pairing of the two brands in the FCA stable reduced focus on Maserati while treating it as a mass-market company. It is also reported that the company will take further action on the new plan in the fourth quarter of this year, with changes taking place by second half of 2019. To this effect, Wester has hired Jean-Philippe Leloup from Ferrari to lead a new department called as the Maserati Commercial.

As per the plan presented by former CEO Sergio Marchionne, the company was supposed to launch the Alfieri coupe in electric and plug-in hybrid forms, a new SUV positioned below the Levante and replacements for the Ghibli, Quattroporte and Levante as EVs and plug-in hybrids.

Maserati sales had dropped in China, due to the WLTP regulations and models like the GranCabrio and the GranTourismo that are 11 years old with no new replacements in line. The brand's YoY sales fell by 26% in Q3 last year. While the yearly target of 75,000 annual units was reduced to 50,000, only 26,400 units were shipped by end of September, 2018.

Source: Autocar