Maserati dealers seems to be closing at few California locations
Also deals are changing a lot
What is happening to the brand as a whole?
My guess is it has something to do with being owned by the same company that brought you greatest hits like the Dodge Dart and Chrysler 200…
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This is more of a group problem.
It’s long been known that FCA was looking to be sold off to the highest bidder - that’s why they went all in on being “debt free”(Which is a joke, because all of their models in Dodge are so old it’s going to take 10B+ to retool all of them at some point).
FCA had two suitors from what I’ve heard - One was VW just after the emissions scandal but as soon as FCA hit the same problems w/ their diesel, VW Group seems to have dropped that.
The second was some Chinese group right around the election and well, you can guess why that fizzled out.
FCA is in dire straits and it’s unlikely they can get out of it, post Marchionne. I’ve heard several times that he left little in the way for succession or secondary leadership and the Italian money behind them (Exor), is still looking for a way out.
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They are doing a lot of things wrong.
Their flagship cars are seriously outdated and could of used a revamp years ago. No tech and old power plants.
Their lower level car which is supposed to be their bread and butter car has the imagine of being a rebadged Chrysler. Whether this is true or not the perception is there and that doesn’t bode well for the price point.
Top all of this off with horrible resale values and there you have it.
Pretty much on the nose, I saw the GT deal a few months ago at 1K/month, thought about it, and passed.
For as beautiful as the exterior is, the interior is garbage when you stack it against what Audi and Mercedes are producing. They are slower, less luxurious,and more expensive then their competition. They’ve slaughtered the brand and there’s probably little they can do to save it.
They’re rebranding and revamping their Modena plant for the Alfieri
They’re going to refresh the Qporte and Ghibli soon, along with released a car smaller than the Levante, I believe.
They hired a new head of Maserati and a top guy from Ferrari. They seemed to have stopped the ‘cheap leases’. It’ll be interesting to see where the company goes with new investment. Hopefully, they get rid of the FCA parts, upgrade the tech and work on the Ghibli some more.
This is typical Italian car manufacturing. They’ll either do well or just suck. It’ll be sad to see the company fail since it’s so old.
It always seemed like a foolish strategy to take the Maserati badge and just slap it on gussied up FCA products hoping people would jump in droves at heavily subsidized lease deals. When Ralph Lauren found out that Polo Jeans items were making their way to Costco racks he shuttered the entire line to protect the brand.
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It’s junk that’s why. Super inflated MSRP.
Expect 488 Maserati lease deals soon
Never forget!
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