The Italian car maker is not being sold off according to parent company Stellantis, despite an independent assessor reportedly being called in to combat sliding sales.
Maserati is not being put up for sale according to its owner Stellantis, despite sliding sales, consultants being called in and previous threats to dump underperforming brands within the automotive super group.
The iconic car maker is one of more than 14 brands under the Stellantis umbrella, including Ferrari – which it has shared engines with for more than two decades – Alfa Romeo and mass-market brand Fiat.
The April 2025 tariffs introduced by the US President Donald Trump – with the US making up more than 40 per cent of Maserati’s annual sales – have made a recovery even more difficult.
Former Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said in August 2024 the company had an “unwavering commitment” to Maserati, only days after saying car makers within the group “that do not make money” would face being axed.
The company would not make further comment, but Autonews reported Mr Elkann as saying the Maserati and Alfa Romeo brands would not be sold to a Chinese car maker.
Combining all 14 brands, Stellantis suffered a 67 per cent fall in its share price in the last 12 months, with few bright spots in its portfolio of auto makes despite it including some of the world’s most iconic car brands.
Stellantis-owned brands dropped from Australian showrooms include Citroen in 2024, Chrysler in 2021 and Dodge in 2016.
Neither Maserati or Alfa Romeo builds cars in the US, but Stellantis – which also owns Jeep, Ram, Dodge and Chrysler – does have factories in North America, including in tariff-afflicted Mexico and Canada as well as the US.
Yet the broader challenge facing the global automotive industry – including uncertainty around whether the tariffs will rise/fall in the short- or long-term – make a move to a US plant, if even possible, extremely risky.
Stellantis followed Ford in temporarily combating the tariffs by offering employee discounts to US customers on Jeep, Dodge, Ram and Chrysler models, but did not include Maserati and Alfa Romeo.
