Maserati has reported a dramatic decline in sales and revenue in the second quarter of 2018, in sharp contrast to the improving performance of other Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) brands.
Sales are down over 35% compared with the same period last year, from 13,400 units to 8700 units. Net revenues have dropped even further, nearly halving from €1.07bn (around £952m) to €568m (around £505m).
FCA cites the impact of a recently imposed import duty reduction in China, with potential customers apparently waiting until it was put in place to get a lower purchase price. However, there were lower shipments and sales “across all markets” despite many markets growing in size, suggesting there are other factors at play.
The Italian luxury brand’s latest model, the Maserati Levante SUV, was introduced in 2016 into a popular market sector and was promoted as its most important model in years. It almost doubled Maserati’s sales in 2017, but demand has fallen sharply, while older models such as the Quattroporte and Ghibli saloons have also experienced big drops.
The poor performance of Maserati comes despite a boost in fortunes for other FCA brands, such as Jeep. The 4x4 maker reported a 21% year-on-year increase in global sales, with models such as the Jeep Cherokee and Jeep Renegade proving popular.
The FCA Group's overall adjusted net profits are up 35% in 2018 over the same period last year, to nearly €2.02bn (around £1.80bn). Gains in markets such as Brazil and the US have contributed to this, as have lower financial charges and tax expense.
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Maserati Quattroporte review
Maserati Levante review
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Doug score
Anyone who watches "online" reviews will know that the likely cause of this is that the "car" is not worth the considerable amount of money they are asking for it.
Maser
The trouble with Maserati is that they're a supposedly luxury/sporting brand in the vein of BMW, but their engineering quality is no where near up to BMW/Merc standards. I've watched YouTube videos with people trying out new model cars, with the quality control and attention to detail (or lack there of!) of Masers being appalling! Not to mention they always seem to be behind the curve with tech compared to their peers too. You can fool some people some of the time, but you can't fool everybody all of the time. Masers are way overpriced for what you get and now its coming back to bite them in the ass! You can't keep on selling subpar products for BMW/Merc money or higher and continue to get away with it! Also Alfa and Maser are becoming too similar to each other, but with the former costing a lot less. The latest Masers aren't even that beautiful to look at anymore.
Its quite unusual for a
Its quite unusual for a marque's sales to tail off so rapidly without some sort of scandal or something.