Fiat Chrysler Reportedly Considering Spinning Off Maserati and Alfa Romeo
FCA wants someone to buy them or merge with them…really, really badly.
As Fiat-Chrysler searches for a friend, it's considering options to make itself into a more desirable business partner. According to Bloomberg, one of those options is spinning off two of the company's high-end brands, Maserati and Alfa Romeo, in order to make a few bucks in the short-term and become more attractive as a volume brand.
Bloomberg estimates that FCA's luxury car operations could be worth up to $8.3 billion. With Maserati experiencing some impressive growth thanks to the Levante and Alfa Romeo coming out with the Stelvio crossover—which is sure to be its best-selling model—the timing seems fairly good if FCA were indeed looking to sell these brands for a high price.
There’s a lot you can criticize about FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne, but he’s pretty darn good at making brands much more valuable on paper and selling them or spinning them off to make some cahs. That’s what he did with Ferrari, as well as truck and tractor brand CNH Industrial NV—and that just might be what he’s in the process of doing with Maserati and Alfa.
Of course, there’s still risk involved. Alfa Romeo and Maserati alike still require further investment to be the global luxury car competitor that Marchionne dreams it can be. Each brand has just a handful of models; they're both a bit far off from having a fully fleshed-out luxury lineup.
But in the meantime, let's have some fun with speculation. What company do you think would be a good steward for these high-end Italian automakers? Let us know in the comments below.