Poor sales, firing the boss... uh oh, looks like Maserati's in big trouble

Maserati is in huge trouble. Earlier this month the boss was fired, and now we can see why. Its sales figures were released by parent company Stellantis.

In the first nine months of 2024, just 11,800 Maseratis were sold. In the same period last year it was 20,400. And even that is less than half what Maserati really should sell, given the market it operates in. The Grecale is up against huge sellers including the BMW X3, Mercedes GLC Coupe and Porsche Macan.

At the recent Paris motor show, I asked Stellantis's boss Carlos Tavares about low sales at Maserati as well as Stellantis's other European premium brands, Alfa Romeo and DS.

"Maserati is in the red. The reason is marketing. The Maserati brand is not clearly positioned and the storytelling is not how it should be. The brand is not just about sports cars, it's about gran turismo, it's about quality of life, dolce vita and technology.

"So we have a problem with the way we go to market. Not with the product. The cars are stunning, including the Folgore [electric] versions."

So the axe fell on Davide Grasso, Maserati's CEO. "That's why we changed the CEO," says Tavares, bluntly. "After many months of trying trying trying, unfortunately the team could not succeed. We have to change the mindset and ideas."

The new Maserati boss is Santo Ficili, who's also just been made boss of Alfa Romeo. The two nameplates will be brought closer together. Big change from the days when Maserati was snuggled up with Ferrari. That ended up making Maseratis too costly.

Tavares also says Maserati had good profits last year until Chinese dealers wanted to discount. "We said, 'we are not here for you to destroy our brand'. But if your marketing is not stellar and your dealers think you need to sell at a lower price, you have a problem." So he tried to shift emphasis to other regions and protect the brand. But that meant losing sales.

Whether Maserati can recover and sell enough cars to justify investment in competitive new models, we'll have to see. Pretty much every decade for the past 50 years, it has missed targets and lost sales to the point where the cars get old and creaky, and a new owner or investor is needed.

As for Alfa and DS, Tavares said they're making good profit per car even on small sales, double the margin per car versus the mass brands. "We won't push the metal which will destroy the margin."