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Maserati reorganizes, tries to sharpen the trident

When's the last time we posted on a run of comprehensive success at Alfa Romeo or Maserati? True, Maserati nearly tripled its U.S. sales from 4,768 in 2013 to 12,942 in 2014. However, the brand's been stuck around that number ever since, selling 13,711 units in 2017. Worse, those figures highlight how far Maserati has fallen behind its own goals. In the last five-year plan, the brand targeted 75,000 global sales this year — then downgraded the target to 50,000 in June this year. At 26,400 units through the first nine months of 2018, short of Poseidon surfacing to work some deus ex machina, even that reduced goal won't be met. New Fiat Chrysler CEO Mike Manley is working to give Maserati the leaders and support it needs to point the trident in the right direction. On an analyst call at the end of October, Manley said, "With hindsight, when we put Maserati and Alfa together, it did two things. Firstly, it reduced the focus on Maserati the brand. Secondly, Maserati was treated for a period of time almost as if it were a mass market brand, which it isn't and shouldn't be treated that way." In October 2016, FCA named Reid Bigland to head Alfa Romeo and Maserati; this was back when Alfa Romeo dreamed of selling 400,000 cars annually by 2018. When Manley named his new executive teams last month, after assuming the CEO post following Sergio Marchionne's death in July, Manley separated Alfa Romeo and Maserati. Tim Kuniskis, who had taken over from Bigland, now heads Alfa Romeo and Jeep. Manley then restored Harald Wester to the head of Maserati. Wester ran Maserati from 2008 to 2016, after which he became FCA's chief technology officer, a role he maintains in the latest shuffle. Wester poached Jean-Philippe Leloup from Ferrari. LeLoup ran Ferrari's Central and Eastern European business operations; he now heads a concern called Maserati Commercial. Al Gardner, head of Maserati's North American dealer network since 2015, keeps that role and takes over as head of Maserati North America. Maserati has favorable brand value, but the leadership will confront almost every other problem a brand can have. Half the automaker's sales come from China, and the economic slowdown there is a serious drain on the numbers. In Europe, the WLTP emissions protocol, bloated inventories, and the need for incentives have dulled the edge. Sales worldwide are down 26 percent this year.

Ferrari to stop supplying Maserati with its engines

The Ferrari Q1 earnings call was full of information, and perhaps the biggest revelation was that Ferrari is going to stop supplying engines to Maserati. CEO Louis Camilleri broke the news, and The Motley Fool posted a transcript of the whole call online. "Eventually, we will no longer supply engines to Maserati, which actually from our perspective is actually a good thing, both from a margin perspective, but also the fact that we can transfer a lot of the labor that's been focused on the engines to the car side of the business," Camilleri says. Maserati has used Ferrari engines (arguably, one of the most compelling reasons to buy a Maserati) in its vehicles since 2002, a little while after Fiat passed Maserati off to the prancing horse. The partnership continued as both Ferrari and Maserati were under the same house at FCA. Then when Ferrari was spun off from FCA in 2015, they kept the supply steady to Maserati. Those engines include a 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8, 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 and a 4.7-liter naturally aspirated V8. Camilleri said Ferrari will officially stop in 2021 or 2022, with no intention of supplying anybody with engines beyond that. Of course, this leaves Maserati high and dry with no engines for its growing lineup. Maserati will have to reach into the FCA parts bin, find a new outside supplier or develop its own engines. Battery electric sounds out of the question. As of now, there doesn't appear to be a clear plan going forward. We've reached out to Maserati to see if they have any comment on the situation as it stands.

Maserati Levante Trofeo gets a twin-turbo V8 transplant from Ferrari

With 590 horsepower and 538 pound-feet of torque, the 3.8-liter twin-turbocharged V8 engine powering the all-wheel-drive Levante Trofeo boasts more power-per-liter than any engine previously installed in a Maserati. Not surprisingly, the engine and its 156-hp-per-liter output are the product of the men from Maranello. The Ferrari-built V8 pushes the Levante Trofeo to 60 miles per hour in 3.7 seconds and on to a top speed of 187 mph. Big power isn't all that makes the Trofeo special. Maserati says its top-shelf Levante boasts a 50:50 weight distribution and a Corsa (race) mode, which means this 'ute ought to be a mighty fine steer. Launch control makes the ludicrous acceleration a repeatable affair, should drivers so desire to rearrange the faces of their passengers at every green light. Maserati Integrated Vehicle Control is supposed to seamlessly prevent driver mistakes instead of correcting them after the fact, as a traditional stability control system would do. In what we assume must be a joke, there's also an Off-Road mode. The interior of the Levante Trefeo is swathed in what Maserati calls "Pieno Fiore" natural leather that is supposed to wear uniquely with age. It's offered in black, red, and tan, all with contrast stitching. The limited launch edition you see here has massive 22-inch matte-finish wheels, matte black paint, glossy carbon fiber exterior bits and matte carbon interior trim. It'll come with a plaque featuring the owner's name and a serial number, but Maserati is only saying a "small number" will be built without giving an exact figure. We'll have to wait for official pricing information and availability, but we're sure it won't come cheap. Related Video: