Maserati has long been known as a symbol of sportiness and elegance. Now, however, the brand is going through a deep crisis. Sales are falling sharply, and the Italian luxury carmaker is having to think completely about revamping its strategy. The new CEO, Santo Ficili, is trying to map out a very ambitious roadmap to try to turn Maserati’s fortunes around.
2024, a year to remember for Maserati
Maserati is facing a strong need to put in a recovery after a 2024 marked by decidedly disappointing sales performance, as the Italian brand’s new CEO, Santo Ficili, said on Friday. At the same time as Maserati’s difficult time, other luxury brands such as Lamborghini and Ferrari continued to post positive results. This event put even more of a spotlight on the fact that the Stellantis Group’s luxury brand saw a significant decline, with only about 15,000 cars sold in 2024, down from 26,000 the previous year.
“The result is certainly not satisfactory and there is a need for a radical change in the brand’s strategy,” explained Santo Ficili, emphasizing the need for a transformation in sales methods to reverse this negative trend. The new number one of the Trident automaker spoke publicly about these remarks during an interview at the Brussels auto show.
Santo Ficili’s statements for Maserati’s recovery
Maserati must again succeed in recording positive sales results before it can embark on new investments, this was stated by Santo Ficili, who also highlighted the fact that the brand ended the first half of 2024 in deficit. The current range has been reduced to the MC20, Grecale and GranTurismo after various other models were recently discontinued. Despite all the great difficulties, Ficili believes that the range is “good” and only needs further “animation” by including within it new color and material options that could incentivize consumers to approach the brand again. In addition to improving competitiveness, paying particular attention to the price factor, it is very important to re-establish a bond that can be lasting with the dealer network and to consider high-growth markets, such as those in Vietnam and Indonesia.
Maserati has also recently started the launch of its “Folgore” electric line, but as for the MC20 electric sports model, it will take some time before it is made available on the market. Santo Ficili also wanted to emphasize the importance of being able to best understand what the various needs of customers are and to monitor the residual value of the vehicles. Finally, it is worth mentioning that, the former CEO of Stellantis, Carlos Tavares, shortly before his exit, had commented on the situation of the Stellantis luxury brand by manifesting the fact that work should probably not be done on changing the range, but rather brand communication should be improved. So we will see if Santo Ficili will also pursue this kind of thinking to see if really the problem could have been Maserati’s marketing, or whether it will focus more on renewing the range to try to pique the curiosity of consumers.