Maserati is said to consider increasing production of the Ghibli and Quattroporte by about 20 percent to meet increasing demand for the two luxury sedans.
By September, Maserati wants to increase weekly output at its plant in Grugliasco, Turin to about 900 cars from the current 750, according to people familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg. In doing so, Maserati is on pace to sell about 40,000 vehicles this year, more than double the amount sold last year.
Thanks to strong demand for the Ghibli, Maserati posted record monthly deliveries of 3,068 cars in May, with sales in the first five months of this year reaching 12,512. In 2013, Maserati delivered 15,400 cars.
In addition to the aforementioned weekly production increase, Maserati will add two shifts every Saturday at the facility and reduce summer breaks to two weeks in August from the usual three. To support increased production, Fiat also plans to move about 350 workers from its main Mirafiori plant to the Maserati factory.
Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne wants to expand the Maserati and Alfa Romeo brands to compete with German premium carmakers by developing new models that will be produced in underused plants in Italy.
Fiat plans to invest €55 billion ($74 billion) to transform Maserati, Alfa Romeo and Jeep into global brands in order to increase net income fivefold over the next five years as part of its merger with Chrysler.
By Dan Mihalascu
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