Maserati’s brighter future

As he held court with journalists on a beautiful summer evening in Bolzano, Roberto Ronchi was clearly a happy man. Outside was parked a test fleet of Maserati GranTurismos, and Ronchi was quietly confident that the cars were going to get a good reception. But the main reason for the grin worn by the chief executive of one of Italy’s proudest – but long financially troubled – marques was the knowledge of what his ultimate boss, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne, would shortly announce formally.

Maserati, under Fiat’s ownership, has finally turned the corner after long years of cash crises, ownership changes, mediocre designs and crumbling quality that has taken Fiat-appointed managers more than a decade to reverse. The start of payback, said Marchionne, was Maserati’s first quarterly profit since Fiat bought Maserati in 1993.

He wouldn’t say how much, but both he and Ronchi believe Maserati is now on course towards a bright, and sustainable, future. And Marchionne’s own grin in making the announcement was as wide as anyone's, for it came as he also released details of what he described as a ‘historic’ financial quarter for Italy’s biggest industrial group. Fiat, until less than three years ago so close to total collapse, had bounced back into record quarterly sales and profits: group income of $21bn and a net profit of $627m.For that wider announcement, Ronchi could breathe a particular sigh of relief, because while Maserati may be back in profits, it is unlikely to be of a size to cover its shorter-term investment needs if Ronchi’s ambitious goals are to be realised. A comfort, then, to know that the parental wallet is now full of bucks, not moths.And ambitious Ronchi’s plans undoubtedly are. When Fiat took over, Maserati’s Sant’Agata plant in Modena was a slum, and its badly built cars were down to a few hundred sales a year. By last year, sales of the first generation of Fiat-funded cars, the Quattroporte, Coupe and Spyder, had reached 5700. This year, says Ronchi, the total will be more than 7000.

By 2011, if Ronchi’s targets are met, Maseratis will once again be a familiar sight on the world’s roads – sales by then, he tells evo, should have reached 12,000 annually.

How big the Maserati family of cars will have become by then he is keeping to himself, only adding, ‘we’ve got a few novelties up our sleeves yet'.