The hood badge of a new Maserati vehicle at a Maserati dealership in Los Angeles. (Eric Thayer/Bloomberg)
key takeaways:
- Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa said the company is discussing a Maserati partnership with two undisclosed potential partners.
- Filosa said the Maserati and Cassino, Italy, plants are not for sale, as stakeholders question Stellantis’ investment plans outside Europe.
- Stellantis plans to introduce a new Maserati scheme in December, involving two flagship models and a possible joint venture-style partnership.
Antonio Filosa, CEO of Stellantis NV, said the company is in talks with two potential partners for Maserati, which would impact plants producing cars for the beleaguered luxury brand.
“We are in talks with two important partners who can bring a range of technologies and excellent ideas; we are deciding who to work with in the future,” Filosa told Italian lawmakers at a parliamentary hearing in Rome on June 17 in response to several questions on the future of Maserati and the casino site, which assembles both Maserati and Alfa Romeo cars. He did not identify potential partners.
A year into Filosa’s tenure, the 52-year-old CEO is trying to allay concerns among key stakeholders, including the Italian government, about the group’s plans to allocate the bulk of future investments outside Europe. Stellantis has been signing several partnerships with Chinese automakers, raising concerns among labor unions and politicians.
Filosa said Maserati or Rome have no plans to sell the underutilized casino plant. He said the future of the Casino would be “closely linked” to Maserati, and the brand would remain “a symbol of Italian style”.
The new Maserati plan, to be unveiled in December, is “ambitious” and will include two new flagship models, Filosa said.
Connected: Stellantis targets 60 new models by 2030
“Certainly the Maserati is not for sale; certainly the casino is not for sale,” Filosa said. “Like other places, casinos can also have collaborative partnerships for the development and manufacturing of car models,” he said.
Filosa told lawmakers that the Maserati partnership being discussed would have an impact on the Stellantis plant in Modena, where some other Maserati models are assembled.
A third plant – in Pomigliano, close to Naples, where Stellantis plans to focus on manufacturing high-volume affordable electric vehicles – could also be a candidate for a potential partnership, Filosa said.
He said all partnerships in Italy would be structured similarly to those with China’s Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology Co and Dongfeng Motor Corp, meaning through joint ventures that Stellantis owns 51% of.
