Maserati, the exotic Italian car manufacturer, has ambitious plans for the future, which may well entail linking up with its fellow countryman Alfa Romeo in the U.S. to boost sports car sales there.
Maserati, owned by Italian mass car maker Fiat which itself recently emerged from a messy divorce from General Motors Corp., is lucky to be alive.
It has been a serial loss maker and last year notched up its 17th year in a row of red ink. That is set to end in 2007.
“Maserati will finally return to profitability in 2007, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne told financial analysts after announcing its results for 2006.
But having come to grips with its financial problems, there is another potentially disastrous dark cloud building on the horizon for Maserati and its fellow supercar manufacturers — new European rules forcing improved fuel economy to curb carbon dioxide emissions said to contribute to climate change, could torpedo balance sheets.
Meanwhile Maserati is improving its finances, steadily cutting trading losses from $230 million in 2004 to $116 million a year later and $45 million in 2006.
Maserati is also plotting a dramatic increase in global sales, which are set to more than double by 2011 to around 12,000 Quattroportes, GranTurismos and GranSports if you believe Maserati, or at least rise quite sharply from last year's 5,500 to 8,000 by 2013, according to automotive consultants CSM Worldwide. This is a healthy increase on sales of less than 1,000 in the 1990s.
Getting on for half of Maserati sales will be in the U.S., according to CSM Worldwide's British-based Europe Sales Forecast Manager Walt Madeira.
Jerky, harsh
A major contributor any sales increase will be the Maserati Quattroporte Automatic, now on sale in the U.S. The Quattroporte — forget any romantic or classic allusions, quattroporte just means 4-doors — has been available with a “DuoSelect” semi-automatic gearbox, but sales were handicapped by the gearbox's jerky, harsh performance which belied the car's luxurious cruiser image. Maserati, after all, is hoping to persuade potential buyers of the Mercedes S class, BMW 7-series and Audi A8 to take a chance with them.
Maserati has now equipped this car with a conventional six-speed automatic gearbox and finally should be able to capitalise on its fabulous good looks, its magnificent road ability, and its gorgeous, sumptuous interior. The car is powered by a 4.2 litre 400 bhp V8 engine, which howls beautifully and performs manfully.
The new six-speed auto box is from Germany's ZF, and is also used by BMW, Mercedes and Jaguar.
“I see them (Maserati) steadily building on the customer base and reviving the brand image. Maserati is targeting this luxurious image and customers are responding,” said Madeira.
Maserati dealers in the U.S. are expected to begin selling Alfa Romeos in a couple of years.
Alfa Romeo, also owned by Fiat, withdrew from the U.S. market in 1995, and seems to have been gearing up for a return ever since. The Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione, a limited edition sports car which was shown as a concept at the Paris Car Show in 2006, is likely to be the scout at the head of the column, perhaps in 2008. This $200,000 supercar has a 450 bhp 4.7 litre V-8 engine and rear wheel drive.
Alfa 159 and Brera
“Maserati dealers in the U.S. would welcome the idea and it would make sense for Alfa. We forecast them entering the U.S. in 2009, after the Competizione has tested the waters. This makes sense because I can't see new dealers wanting to sell just Alfas, and we expect sales of about 8,000 by 2015, mainly of the 159 (sedan) and Brera (coupe),” said Madeira.
All these carefully laid plans for Maserati's expansion may be seriously damaged if European Union (E.U.) politicians decree rules on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions which are unforgiving on upmarket gas guzzlers like the Quattroporte and its ilk.
The E.U. and the European Car Manufacturers Association have a voluntary agreement to limit the average output of cars to 140 grammes per kilometre (g/km) by 2008, the equivalent of about 39 miles per U.S. gallon. The EU has now decided that this will be cut to 130 g/km by 2012. When you consider that the Quattroporte only manages 16 miles per U.S. gallon, equivalent to 345 g/km, you can see the scale of potential problem.
Unlike the Mercedes, BMW and Audi competition, Maserati has no fuel sipping diesel engines, or hybrid plans. The Germans are expected to join Japan's Lexus soon by providing petrol/electric hybrid engines in their top-of-the-range cars.
But the E.U has so far not announced how new consumption standards will be enforced. It may allow manufacturers to average fuel consumption across all of the brands, in which case Maserati's handful of fuel munchers could be added to Fiat's millions of fuel-sipping mini cars.
Extreme environmentalists
If the E.U decides on an aggressive stance, it might impose taxes on inefficient cars, which would be paid either by the manufacturer or the buyer. Some extreme environmentalists have demanded that cars which can't achieve a minimum fuel economy should just be banned, period, but that seems unlikely for now.
John Wormald, analyst with British automotive consultancy Autopolis, reckons that even an extra tax on upmarket luxury cars wouldn't pose a problem, but other measures might.
“It depends on how this is handled. If you add a whacking amount of tax, then the people buying cars like these will pay up quite cheerfully. But if European governments introduce a personal CO2 allowance that would be much more dangerous if you have to choose between your Maserati and turning on the central heating,” Wormald said.
Some members of Britain's opposition Conservative Party have suggested citizens be allowed an annual ration of CO2 for things like flights, car journeys and home heating.
“There is a danger that public opinion will start to frown on gas guzzlers but the people buying them are not likely to be swayed by that. What is dangerous in the longer term is a possible ban on the use of gas guzzlers on public roads. You could only drive them on special race tracks. Promoting super cars when there's a lot of concern about global warming may be an uphill struggle,” he said.
CSM Worldwide's Madeira is more sanguine about the threat from CO2 legislation, saying that the worst case scenario is a tax on the really egregious offenders.
“That tax would be passed on the buyer. People wanting high performance cars like this will just go ahead and pay up,” Madeira said.
