Maserati is on a roll following the launch of the all-new Quattroporte and the entry-level Ghibli sedan earlier this year. It looks like Maserati’s €1.2 billion investment in new models is starting to pay off, as the Fiat-owned luxury automaker has received about 17,000 orders worldwide in the first seven months of this year, almost three times more than its total 2012 sales.
“The numbers show that the United States is still our largest market globally, but that China has taken the lead for certain models such as the Quattroporte,” Maserati CEO Harald Wester said according to a Reuters report.
The €110,000 ($147,300) Quattroporte accounted for almost half of the orders, but the new Ghibli entry-level sedan that starts at €66,000 ($87,300) also contributed to the result.
Of the 14,159 orders worldwide reported on June 17, 7,922 were for the Quattroporte and 2,249 for the Ghibli. Maserati added about 3,000 orders in July alone. The Quattroporte went on sale in January, while the Ghibli will reach dealerships in September.
Maserati has an ambitious sales target of 15,000 units in 2015, up from 6,288 units last year. The Modena-based brand hopes much of the growth will be sustained by the Ghibli and the upcoming SUV, the Levante.
Increasing Maserati sales is an important piece of Fiat’s plans to return to profit in 2016 in Europe, where it lost €700 million ($927 million) last year due to a shrinking market.
By Dan Mihalascu
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