Speculation about Stellantis selling Maserati has been rampant for a while now, but according to new Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa, the storied-yet-troubled trident brand is absolutely, positively, most definitely not on the block. Here’s Bloomberg, which reported on interviews that Filosa gave leading up to the Munich auto show:
Stellantis is attached to all its brands, which represent a competitive advantage for the group, including Maserati, Filosa told Il Sole 24 Ore. The company hired McKinsey & Co. for strategic advice on Maserati and fellow Italian brand Alfa Romeo, amid mounting pressures from Donald Trump’s escalating trade war…
Filosa continued by stressing that while Maserati isn’t for sale, Stellantis needs to figure out what products are best suited to the marque’s future. That said, let’s take a closer look at that whole McKinsey factor and attempt to discern what might actually be going on with Stellantis’ embattled luxury brand.
Gossip vs. strategic rumors
Stellantis brought McKinsey in earlier this year, and almost immediately the media rumor mill kicked into gear. The auto industry overall is gossipy but not very scoopy, so when we started to see stories in the legitimate business press, it was pretty obvious that Stellantis was testing the waters with some strategic chatter to see if anybody might want to take Maserati (and Alfa) off its hands. Secondarily, Stellantis also seemed to be toying with a Maserati/Alfa spinoff, a la Ferrari in 2015 and an idea that has been kicking around since Sergio Marchionne was still alive and running Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
Maserati is a real headache for Stellantis. It lost almost $300 million last year and has seen sales decline by 50 percent. With all of its production in Italy but over a third of its buyers in the U.S. (according to Bloomberg), it’s going to get killed by tariffs. The challenge, however, is finding a dealmaker someplace in the world who wants to invest what’s necessary to fix the brand while at the same time not unloading Maserati at a desperate, fire-sale price.
Is Stellantis stuck with Maserati?
It sounds as though Maserati might more aggressively pursue a sell-less-but-sell-for-more approach that hinges on extensive customization of its vehicles. This is a trend in the business, one that’s been successfully exploited by Ferrari and Bentley. Basically, you give up on being a more stylish alternative to higher-end BMWs and Mercedes and focus instead on making your cars costlier and more exclusive through the addition of unique features and the development of special editions.
In other words, fewer sales, but higher profits on the sales that you do make. If Maserati does go this way, it’s probably because McKinsey and Stellantis – and especially Chairman John Elkann – have decided that the brand has sufficient value remaining to be leveraged, but not enough currently to attract a high enough sale price. Frankly, assessing Maserati’s “correct” value is quite tricky right now, as revenues fell to about $1 billion in 2024 from roughly $2.5 billion in 2023 and the brand is facing those aforementioned tariff headwinds. Discounts would have to be applied to a number even as conjectural as, say, $3-4 billion.
Gone (mostly) are the days when great auto brands went on sale and up-and-comers in the industry seized on the rare opportunity to cut deals. Failing the emergence of an ambitious and well-capitalized investment group, it certainly looks like Stellantis is now stuck with Maserati, possibly forever.
