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Maserati Pelletessuta models bring their Italian fashion to the U.S.

Maserati's partnered with Italian fashion house Emenegildo Zegna for seven years, going back to the Maserati Quattroporte Ermenegildo Zegna Limited Edition Concept worked up as part of Maserati's centennary celebrations in 2014. At last year's New York Auto Show, the pair debuted the results of another collaboration, the new Pelletessuta woven leather interior. Working with hide as it would with yarn, Zegna wove thin strips of lightweight Napa fabric for 100 special edition vehicles that the Italian automaker pledged for the U.S. market and said it would never build again. After previews during Monterey Car Week in August, the 100 limited edition models have finally reached U.S. dealerships. Until they're sold out, the two models will stand here as the carmaker's fullest expression of Italian prowess. Meanwhile, in Italy, Maserati made a gesture towards its compatriots and its country by lighting the towers at its Modena headquarters in the three hues of il Tricolore, the Italian flag. There are 50 examples of the 2020 Quattroporte S Q4 GranLusso, which already comes with a Luxury Zegna Package interior compared to the entry-level Quattroporte. Each special model wears a custom Blu Sofisticato metallic paint with blue brake calipers. Inside, dark brown Pelletessuta interior includes sport seats for the front passengers and a Zegna badge to highlight the work. It's joined by 50 examples of the 2020 Levante S GranSport dressed in Bronzo Tri-Coat and 21-inch polished Helios rims, those wheels an inch larger than the standard units. The Levante interior gets tailored in black Pelletessuta fabric, accented with custom Radica wood trim — radica being a kind of veneer or parquet with a history in Italian luxury. The news about U.S. arrival didn't come with prices, though, so the interested will need to make the call to a dealer for information. Since the Quattroporte S Q4 GranLusso starts at $114,485 after destination and the Levante S GranSport at $91,985, those are good baselines to add to the required premiums for exclusive upgrades and low volume. Related Video:

Stellantis ready to kill brands and fix U.S. problems, CEO Tavares says

  MILAN — Stellantis is taking steps to fix weak margins and high inventory at its U.S. operations and will not hesitate to axe underperforming brands in its sprawling portfolio, its chief executive Carlos Tavares said on Thursday. The warning for lossmaking brands is a turnaround for Tavares, who has maintained since Stellantis was created in 2021 from the merger of Italian-American automaker Fiat Chrysler and France's PSA that all of its 14 brands including Maserati, Fiat, Peugeot and Jeep have a future. "If they don't make money, we'll shut them down," Carlos Tavares told reporters after the world's No. 4 automaker delivered worse-than-expected first-half results, sending its shares down as much as 10%. "We cannot afford to have brands that do not make money." The automaker now also considers China's Leapmotor as its 15th brand, after it agreed to a broad cooperation with the group. Stellantis does not release figures for individual brands, except for Maserati which reported an 82 million euro adjusted operating loss in the first half. Some analysts say Maserati could possibly be a target for a sale by Stellantis, while other brands such as Lancia or DS might be at risk of being scrapped given their marginal contribution to the group's overall sales. Stellantis' Milan-listed shares were down as much as 12.5% on Thursday, hitting their lowest since August 2023. That brings the loss for the year so far to 22%, making them the worst performer among the major European automakers. Few automotive brands have been killed off since General Motors ditched the unprofitable Saturn and Pontiac during a U.S. government-led bankruptcy in the global financial crisis in 2008. Tavares is under pressure to revive flagging margins and sales and cut inventory in the United States as Stellantis bets on the launch of 20 new models this year which it hopes will boost profitability. Recent poor results from global carmakers have heightened worries about a weakening outlook for sales across major markets such as the U.S., whilst they also juggle an expensive transition to electric vehicles and growing competition from cheaper Chinese rivals. Japan's Nissan Motor saw first-quarter profit almost completely wiped out on Thursday and slashed its annual outlook, as deep discounting in the United States shredded its margins. Tavares said he would be working through the summer with his U.S. team on how to improve performance and cut inventory.

Maserati looking to book 13,000 sales of new Quattroporte in 2013

Europe's continuing financial woe is forcing automakers to get creative, and while Fiat may be scaling back its volume vehicles, it's looking to ramp up production of the exclusive Maserati brand. Following the debut of a new Quattroporte sedan, Fiat wants to boost Maserati sales to 50,000 vehicles by 2015. Maserati may lose as much as €7 million ($9.05 million) this year, and Fiat is betting big on Chrysler platforms and dealers to turn that around.
Currently regarded as a low-volume boutique carmaker, Maserati sold just 6,159 units last year, and 4,700 units through three quarters of this year. For 2013, Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne is targeting 13,000 in sales of the redesigned Quattroporte alone. Fiat apparently wants the brand's low volume image to change, hoping to position it closer to BMW and Porsche in the market.
The recent unveiling of the new Quattroporte will be followed by more new vehicle launches, including a crossover utility called Levante, and a long-promised sub-Quattroporte sedan, called Ghibli. The latter will share certain components with the Chrysler 300 sedan in an effort to optimize production costs. The Ghibli will be positioned to take on the BMW 5 Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class. It's all in an effort to turn the profit tide for Maserati and its parent company Fiat amidst European economic turmoil.