Just as Maserati’s next era was beginning to take shape, between the MC20 supercar, the first all-new GranTurismo in ages, and the bread-and-butter Grecale SUV, it seems Stellantis is wary of the brand’s trajectory. During an earnings call for the final quarter of the 2024 financial year late Wednesday, Stellantis CFO Doug Ostermann stated that the company had written down a $1.59 billion investment in Maserati, which includes “the cancellation of certain projects prior to launch,” per the company’s own investor deck.
Ostermann kept unsurprisingly vague in explaining the decision, though he did call out the Trident brand’s aggressive electrification plan. “Certainly, as we look at the pace of our activity in Maserati, we have now and have to recognize that the dynamics in that business, particularly in the Chinese market as kind of our expectations in terms of how quickly that luxury market would transition to electrification, those things have been adjusted and along with that we have adjusted the financials to reflect that outlook,” the executive said during the call.
This comes after a very poor year for Maserati, where sales dove from roughly 26,600 to 11,300, a 58% drop. Recall back in July, when former-CEO Carlos Tavares was still steering the ship at Stellantis. Tavares was pretty clear in his response to struggling brands, saying that “if they don’t make money, we’ll shut them down,” and “we cannot afford to have brands that do not make money.”
Around that time, former CFO Natalie Knight reflected on what was then only a challenging first half of the year for the Maserati in a conversation with media, saying: “There could be some point in the future when we look at what’s the best home” for it. That sparked widespread concern that Stellantis was shopping around the storied Italian marque, prompting a joint statement from Stellantis and Maserati to quell those fears, stating that the parent company maintained an “unwavering commitment” to the brand.
That brings us to this week, when Stellantis’ commitment has played out in the form of nearly $1.6 billion worth of canceled products and resources for the Bologna-based company. That may include future electric versions of the Quattroporte, Levante, and MC20, while the GranTurismo and GranCabrio Folgore managed to make it out before the axe. When last summer’s frenzy over the company’s future began, its first-half struggles were largely attributed to the discontinuation of models like the outgoing Ghibli, Quattroporte, and Levante.
With those cars, so too died V8s in Maserati’s lineup; aside from the Nettuno V6, the marque appeared determined to chart a course to EVs. Given how so many automakers are scaling back their full-EV rollouts and given internal combustion a stay of execution, it’s probably for the best that Maserati doesn’t launch too many pure-electric products too quickly.
At the same time, pausing all those projects in motion and returning to the drawing board requires acceptance that things won’t turn around immediately. To Maserati’s credit, it seems to have internalized this; management sees 2025 as a rebuilding year and doesn’t expect to really turn sales around until 2026. As for the near future, it’s introducing a lower-power, entry-level version of the GranCabrio with 490 horsepower to sit below the 540-hp Trofeo.
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