When the now-fired director Carlos Tavares aired his opinion, Stellantis refused to close Maserati. But now the brand is losing a planned investment of 11 billion.
Maserati's future may be hanging by a very thin thread. At least as part of Stellantis.
The parent company has withdrawn an investment of one and a half billion euros, equivalent to 11.5 billion kroner.
This is what Autocar writes.
Stellantis' CFO Doug Ostermann recently confirmed to investors that the group will not be throwing away that much money after developing Maserati.
Further documents reveal that the money, which is not flowing in Maserati's direction anyway, has caused the brand to drop the launch of 'certain projects'.
And while the car brand does not go into further detail in the documents available to the public, it is believed to be the MC20 Folgore electric car that the beleaguered brand has put on hold.
According to Autocar, Ostermann believes that the group needs to at least reconsider how Maserati will send cars to the streets. And at what pace.
"We have to acknowledge that the dynamics of the business, especially in the Chinese market, and our expectations of how quickly the premium market would transition to electrification do not match," he noted.
Maserati needs both money and compelling new models if they are to have a chance of survival.
Last year, the Italian brand burned through 260 million euros (1.9 billion kroner).
At the same time, global sales fell from 26,600 cars in 2023 to only 11,300 in 2024. This at a time when Stellantis is already struggling financially.
Following the announcement, the Italian trade union FIM has announced that it will immediately demand answers from Stellantis and Maserati.
Specifically, the unionists want to know what will happen to the brand when the partners meet on March 11th.
"Despite the quality and high-performance models, the brand suffers from errors and negligence in terms of marketing. We can no longer waste time," says FIM Secretary General Ferdinando Uliano.
