New Maserati CEO Santo Ficili has insisted that Maserati can be turned around as he embarks on a plan to improve the Italian brand’s cars, marketing and dealers in a bid to return to profitability.
Ficili was installed at Modena last October by then Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares, who fired previous CEO Davide Grasso for Maserati’s poor performance, particularly in reference to its marketing.
Speaking at Autocar at the Brussels motor show, Ficili said “it was not an easy job to do” at Maserati but “it is a fantastic brand” that could be turned around.
“I’m super positive because of the legacy of the brand, and if you have a little fire with a brand like this, you can then have a very different kind of fire," he said.
Maserati sold just 8600 cars in the first nine months of 2024, compared with more than 20,000 in the same period in 2023.
Revenues more than halved, too; in the first half of 2024, it was more than €80 million in the red.
Ficili – who is also now the CEO of Alfa Romeo – said focus areas would be building a strong team to run the Maserati brand as well as improving “product competitiveness”, including the contents of its cars and their pricing.
“Then we need to do the right marketing of the cars, meaning advertising events getting close to the customers who buy these kinds of products.
“Last but not least, there is the relationship with the [dealer] network. It’s so important to re-engage the network, because we need them to sell the cars and serve customers.
“So it’s team, product competitiveness, marketing activities and network.”
Ficili hopes but doesn’t expect to return Maserati to profitability in 2025, aiming to “change the trajectory” of the brand and send it upwards.
He also confirmed that he would look to cut its costs, “because we can save something” and “to do the right investment”. “Then my hope is to come back to a different economic result.”
Ficili also wants to explore entry into other markets as a way to increase Maserati's footprint and sales.
“Outside of Europe, I see the possibility to grow," he said. "We need to sell, to make more volume, to save the economic result, and we can then reinvest for new models in the future.”
Ficili said the brand would relaunch the new Grancabrio this year, “because the job we did last year was without big success", adding: "It’s a pity, because it’s an unbelievable car. There is a job to do”.
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Maserati has committed brand suicide!!!! Management needs to buy all of the rebuilt and recovered Maserati's and put them in a crusher. Why??? There is a very big market for buying wrecked Maserati's and piecing one together. Every one of those "crap/junk recovered titles" is giving Maserati a bad name. Those junk/scrap autos will never be equal to a used undamaged automobile. Maserati dealership sales videos are crap. You could replace the Maserati in the video with any cheap American auto and you would not have to change 89% of the description. Maserati needs to make videos for social media that reflect the passion and thrill of owning a Maserati!!! Maserati needs to search out negative comments on social media and challenge the poster to justify his comments. 90% of negative comment authors have never owned one much less driven one. Maserati management ignores the impact negative opinions have on sales. Maserati management needs to offer low-cost training to get more mechanics qualified to service their autos. When an owner of a $150,000 auto has a bad experience because of poor service, that owner will buy another brand and will forever cuss the dealership and the Maserati brand. Your service departments should have highly skilled mechanics and service writers to give the owners confidence in the dealership. Poor service equals a bad reputation and a pissed-off wealthy former Maserati fan. Maserati management should abandon any desire to have an EV. Nobody will buy a silent Maserati. The engineering team should focus on performance, not worrying about Global Warming. The management of Maserati should make videos about the care and skill of the craftsmen who cut and sew the leather. The production team should have video biographies explaining their passion for making Maserati. I have a lot of other ideas on how to save the brand. Management's past history shows how out of touch they are with selling Maserati automobiles.
it's difficult to know why anyone would buy a Maserati at the moment. Their sports cars don't have the appeal or cache of Ferrari, McLaren or Lamborghini - in my opinion. The SUVs don't quite add up against say Range Rover. The saloons are extremely ordinary at their price points. It's a personal opinion, but I don't like that sort of drooping open mouth at the front either. Think they really need some sort of halo vehicle or acticity - definitely not Formula E - to build an idea of why we should sign on the dotted line. It's not a pleasure to me to voice this opinion. In the day they were every bit the equal of Ferrari et al. But the day was a very long time ago. Shame.