- Maserati Q3 sales fell 60% compared to 2023, with year-to-date figures down more than 58%.
- Stellantis CEO blames Maserati’s decline on weak brand positioning and aggressive dealer discounting.
- With a reduced model lineup and cost-cutting measures, Stellantis is refocusing Maserati on profitability and premium appeal.
Maserati managed to sell around 20,600 cars through the first nine months of 2023. Fast forward to this year, and that figure has plummeted to roughly 8,600—according to Stellantis’ latest official data. That’s a brutal 58.3% decline, one that ultimately cost Davide Grasso his position as CEO. Now, Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares is pointing fingers at Maserati’s marketing strategy and dealers who insist on discounting models, tarnishing the brand’s premium allure.
This isn’t even Tavares’ first jab at Maserati’s marketing woes. Back in September, he made similar comments. Of course, at that point, he hadn’t axed Grasso. Now, the company is scrambling to “rightsize costs” in a bid to stop the bleeding.
More: Stellantis Q3 Sales Tumble 20%, Revenue Takes A 27% Hit
Cost-cutting has become a linchpin in Stellantis’s Maserati recovery plan, a point underscored in its latest quarterly earnings call. There, Stellantis reported a sobering 60% drop in Maserati sales compared to the third quarter of 2023.
“Maserati shipments remain meaningfully lower year-over-year, while 2024 has seen some important new products, particularly EV variants of the SUV and luxury coupes,” the company said in a statement. “Maserati will be working with a significantly reduced product portfolio for the near term after three models ended production at the end of 2023, and thus a main focus will be on rightsizing costs to return it to profitability.”
According to Top Gear, Tavares still believes marketing is the big problem here. “Maserati is in the red. The reason is marketing,” he said. “The Maserati brand is not clearly positioned and the storytelling is not how it should be. The brand is not just about sports cars, it’s about gran turismo, it’s about quality of life, dolce vita and technology.”
Tavares also called out Chinese dealers that wanted to sell the cars with big discounts: “We said, ‘we are not here for you to destroy our brand’. But if your marketing is not stellar and your dealers think you need to sell at a lower price, you have a problem.”
Sadly for Stellantis, this is just one of the many fires it’s trying to put out. The group saw sales drop 20 percent for Q3 across the board. It’s also in the midst of suing its fifth supplier so far this year while it pauses production of models like the Durango and Grand Cherokee.
