FCA Says Maserati Will Remain Unprofitable Until Post-2020 Product Offensive

Maserati posted an ugly financial report for the second quarter of 2019. Revenue was down 40 percent, resulting in a loss of $132 million before interest and taxes. The good news, according to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, is that the brand will become profitable once new product hits the ground.

The bad news? None of those vehicles are scheduled to arrive until after 2020, meaning Maserati probably won’t see any improvements until sometime afterward. FCA CEO Mike Manley has already said the rest of 2019 will be ugly for the brand, though he remains hopeful that the 10 new or refreshed vehicles the premium nameplate had in the works would help it turn a corner.

In the meantime, Maserati wants to continue taking steps to reduce bloated dealer inventories. In 2018, the marque had a five-month supply of autos. The goal is to tamp that down by half by the end of this year. The company has already cut production and reduced deliveries by 46 percent in the second quarter. Sales declined by 17 percent, to 7,200 vehicles, over the same period.

While plenty of Maserati’s new product remains a mystery, we do know it plans to add a new sports car to the mix next year and update its mainstay models. There’s also a crossover, slotted below the Levante, and a successor to the Granturismo coming in 2021. The Quattroporte is scheduled to get its replacement in 2022, with the next-generation Levante arriving the following year.

We couldn’t say if this will work, however. Maserati is performing well below FCA’s original expectations. Former FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne envisioned the brand yielding 75,000 deliveries annually, but Maserati had trouble even meeting its revised target of 50,000 units in 2018, moving just 36,500 cars. A large part of its problem was an inability to launch new product — something at the core of its turnaround strategy. Manley has previously said that lumping the brand in with Alfa Romeo was also a big mistake, promising that this won’t be an issue in the future, now that the brand has its own leadership.

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