Alexandre
Don't think it's just because we often talk about bad news to Maserati that we don't love this brand. We love it with all our hearts. But figures can no longer hide the reality of a brand that has been suffering for several years.
After a year 2023 with very poor profitabilityand fairly stable salesbut a slowdown in the last quarterAll this was already setting the tone for 2024. Although we don't yet have the figures for each country, it is possible to give a trend with a few: France, Italy and Germany. Spoiler: it's not good.
| Country | january - march 2023 | january - march 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| France | 30 | 13 |
| Italy | 1051 | 802 |
| Germany | 430 | 121 |
While France has been a good customer for the brand in the past, especially during the Levante's launch years, with over 700 units per year, it is now a minor player, with 13 units registered in the first quarter of 2024.
For Italy, it's just the second-largest customer behind the USA. With 802 units in the first quarter of 2024, it will most probably return to the figures for 2022, unless the trend continues downwards.
Germany was Maserati's 4th best customer in 2023, with 970 units, but was already 11 % down on 2022! A cold shower for 2024, with just 121 units in the first quarter, compared with 430 units in the first quarter of the previous year.
What can we say, the Maserati brand is a textbook case that we've talked about several times. Between our we wondered if Stellantis knew what she was doing, the new 2028 product plans, the major management changesand doubts about technical managementor the questioning the 100 % electric…
We can always console ourselves by saying that, for a luxury brand, Maserati still outsells Ferrari and Lamborghini and, knowing the Stellantis mantra: profitability before volumes. So, is this drop worrying, or is it deliberate? Only Maserati's management knows.
Like many of us who used to have the budget for a car at 15, 20 or even 25,000 euros, now it's 40,000 for the same range, so maserati customers who used to appreciate cars at under 100,000 or 120,000 euros may not be able or willing to spend more than 150,000 euros on maserati sports models.
Unjustified price rises since Stellantis, lack of investment/renewal.
It was bad enough under Marchionne, but under Tavares...
In France, the ridiculous figures can be explained by the malus, and by the French, who only like German cars when they're not buying low-end French ones.
Maserati would have to know if it was going all-electric, but then it didn't, and with a range that hasn't been renewed, we don't know where the brand is going.
Volumes are lower for Ferrari and Lamborghini, but average prices and margins are much higher than for Maseratis.
Maserati will always be one of my favorite mythical Italian brands! But the boss of Stellantis, like those of the other great brands of high quality mechanical outfits, has only to take it out on our governments and those of Europe, with the help of the Green bobos who want to make them disappear from our beautiful roads by taxing them without any deductions !!!!
Dramatic: one era disappears, another is concocted for us! You just have to know how to enjoy it!
Merci Thank you merci a vous Tous
Even before all these issues of malus and drastic standards, the brand was badly managed... It's just even worse now.
Porsche, in the same niche, is doing very well, yet they're playing by the same rules.
Speaking of Porsche, they didn't hesitate to transform their best-selling Macan into an electric 100%. It's a risky, even questionable choice, but it contrasts with Tavares' inability to make risky decisions: he's too afraid of losing his millions in bonuses... Meanwhile, Maserati's descent into hell is not about to stop.
Indeed, I find the front end of this new Macan quite distinctive, as if it were "chinoized". Probably the aim...
As far as Tavares is concerned, he's just a cost-killer, and his "results" are due solely to the ex-FCA divisions and to scrapping, both social and automotive. The opposite of a "genius", as we often read here and there. His long-term vision is non-existent. Probably one of the worst automotive bosses, along with the other Carlos.
Sales of the GranCabrio and GranTurismo will help in 2024, but the Grecale is in direct competition with the Porsche Macan and is less technically advanced, if only because of the 400V architecture chosen, which allows a 150kW charge compared to Porsche's 270. It also consumes more fuel and therefore has a shorter range, despite a slightly higher-capacity battery, which takes longer to charge due to slower charging. In short, apart from the design - even if I find the front lights too small and badly proportioned - and the more exclusive brand, it's hard to recommend it. On the other hand, what's hard to accept for Alfa Romeo, with its lack of choice in personalization, is totally unacceptable for Maserati. There is the Fuoriserie program, but very little in the catalog...
With the exception of the superb MC 20, I find the new Grantourismo exorbitantly expensive, almost 3 times the price of the previous generation, with a V6 that's far less enchanting than the V8, even though it's more powerful, and, above all, a disappointingly under-modernized design, in particular a grille that's much more bland than the front lights.
the Alfieri, which remains only a prototype, a serious mistake on Maserati's part and which was truly magnificent and a worthy modern evolution of the Grantourismo, would have been much more successful and was ultimately plagiarized by Ferrari for the Roma. I don't think Stellantis is up to the task of a brand like Maserati, and it's clear that for the Grantourismo they didn't call on a great designer like Pininfarina and had some marketers concoct a mix of the MC 20's lights on the Grantourismo just to make something, which doesn't detract from its new technology that's certainly better than the 1st generation.
The Alfieri, a total nonsense not to have been marketed. A bit like the abandonment of the Punto at Fiat, or the 147/Giulietta segment at Alfa Romeo.
On the other hand, a PureToc in yet another SUV designed by a pre-adolescent tuning fan - they know how to do that.