Stellantis Might Finally Pawn Off the Family Silver (Maserati)
If you listen closely to the wind blowing through the deserted hallways of the Mirafiori plant, you can hear the sound of accountants sharpening their knives. The latest whispers out of Europe suggest that Stellantis is quietly looking for a new home for Maserati, and the potential buyers are speaking Mandarin.
This comes hot on the heels of last week’s brutal earnings call, where Stellantis confirmed it has written off nearly $1.6 billion in planned investments for the Italian luxury brand. The electric Quattroporte? Dead. The electric Levante replacement? Indefinitely delayed. The mood is grim.
Maserati is in a weird spot. It has incredible brand heritage and some genuinely beautiful cars—the MC20 is a masterpiece of design and engineering—but it simply does not make money. Sales plummeted nearly 60% last year. The brand is stuck in a purgatory between exclusive luxury and mass market premium, failing to conquer either. They are too expensive to compete with BMW and not special enough to compete with Ferrari.
Carlos Tavares, the CEO of Stellantis, has been ruthless about cutting fat. He has famously said that brands that don't make money will be shut down or sold. Selling Maserati to a Chinese conglomerate like Geely or BYD would follow a familiar pattern. Look at Lotus, Volvo, and MG. All are thriving under Chinese ownership, with massive capital injections that their previous owners couldn't afford.
A sale would give Maserati the cash it needs to actually build competitive EVs and refresh its aging lineup. It would give a Chinese giant a crown jewel of European heritage to legitimize their global expansion. It makes terrified sense on paper.
For enthusiasts, this is terrifying. The idea of an Italian icon being run from Hangzhou is hard to swallow. But let’s be real: Maserati has been on life support under various owners (Citroën, De Tomaso, Fiat, Ferrari) for decades. Maybe a new owner with deep pockets is exactly what the doctor ordered. We might lose some of the chaotic Italian soul, but we might gain cars that actually start every morning.
The tragedy here is that Maserati finally had a good engine. The Nettuno V6 is brilliant. But they put it in cars that nobody is buying. The Grecale was supposed to be the savior, the cash cow SUV, but it arrived too late and cost too much. Now, the inventory is piling up on dealer lots, gathering dust and depreciation.
If you are brave enough to buy into the brand right now—perhaps looking at a depreciated Ghibli or a used GranTurismo—just be careful. Italian depreciation is legendary for a reason. Before you sign anything, use a service like Price360. It can give you a comprehensive history report and an AI-powered visual inspection to spot hidden damage that a desperate seller might be trying to gloss over. You can’t fix Maserati’s corporate strategy, but you can at least make sure you aren’t buying a lemon.
Maserati isn't dead yet, but the For Sale sign is virtually in the window. The only question is whether the next Trident will be made in Modena or Hangzhou, and if anyone will still care by the time it gets here.
