[Dippy]

It hasn’t been easy times for Stellantis in the recent past. Sales and revenue nosedived through 2024, eventually leading to the abrupt resignation of its former CEO, Carlos Tavares. With Trump’s new tariffs coming into effect, things are set to get worse for the company.

Two brands from the Stellantis portfolio that are an area of concern are Alfa Romeo and Maserati. The company recently hired management consulting firm McKinsey and Company to assess the situation, with tariffs being a significant focus.

A company spokesperson provided the following statement, "McKinsey has been asked to provide its considerations regarding the recently announced U.S. tariffs for Alfa Romeo and Maserati." Stellantis declined to provide any additional information.

Coming to the sales numbers, Alfa Romeo sold just 8,865 cars for the entire year in the US, a 19 percent drop from 2023. Things are worse for Maserati. The brand sold 11,300 cars globally, with just 4,819 sold in the United States. With the new 25 percent tariffs applying to any car being imported to the US, every single Maserati and Alfa Romeo model will be affected. Stellantis is left with a big question mark on what to do.

Discussions are still in the early phase and many options are being explored. That includes the possibility of partnering with other companies or even selling the brands. There are reports of possible collaborations with Asian-based automakers as well. This could mean that Chinese buyers could be in line to buy the legendary Italian marques. Whatever the case, Trump’s tariff will play a big role in the ultimate fate of both carmakers.

In terms of other updates, Alfa Romeo is currently working on the next-generation versions of the Stelvio and Giulia. Meanwhile has backtracked on its plans to go electric, leading to the cancellation of the MC20 EV.

Source: Motor1.com

Link to Team BHP news

[ramki.grandhi]

A little out of box thought, Tesla should buy these and eventually lead them into future electric roadmap, while maintaining the niche market.

[SidwaysInLinen]

Suspicions are swirling, Stellantis is burning!!

[shankar.balan]

Effectively Stellantis is guilty of the Cold-Blooded Murder of some lovely, iconic brands. How sad that they with all their massive scale, are unable to preserve and strengthen the power of such stuff of dreams - Alfa Romeo, Maserati…

Maybe the Agnelli family should just buy these and reinitiate these as Micro-Brands.

[khanak]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Maybe the Agnelli family should just buy these and reinitiate these as Micro-Brands.

And do what with them?

Not sure how Alfa will position themselves in the future. The Giulia was brilliant to drive and ticked the boxes for enthusiasts but isn't really selling. Do they continue moving towards SUVs with the Stelvio etc and alienate enthusiasts? The move to electrification further complicates things. I love Alfa but I can't think of a clear path forward for them

[shankar.balan]

Seriously what a sadness.
Just look at these cars.



How can these conglomerates just sacrifice the pursuit of beauty and aesthetics on the altar of crass commerce?

Conglomerates are just machines that have no soul. And I hate that.

(Pictures taken on my visit in 2018, to the Museo Storico Alfa Romeo, Rho Fiera, Arese, Milano, Italia.)

[carjack3090]

Link (Car brands that Indian carmakers can potentially invest in)

I have already written about it here, come on Mahindra and Tata. Go for it.

[jnanesh]

Originally Posted by carjack3090

Link (Car brands that Indian carmakers can potentially invest in)

I have already written about it here, come on Mahindra and Tata. Go for it.

Was thinking the same, Mahindra probably would be best suited since they already own Pininfarina, besides Tata already has JLR.

[Pontiac]

Companies should wait it out. Trump is taking US economy on a ride. He will let companies go bankrupt, having them sell ff and when all damage is done, he will just remove all the tariffs.

[Sensible_Speed]

When Mckinsey gets involved, you know the manufacturer is going to do what is being rumoured. Mckinsey's services throughout its history have been to affirm the board's horrid decisions and offload some of the blame through its legal deceit.

Time to say goodbye to Alfa and Maserati forever I guess.

But, the decision makes sense. These names have more value than the products themselves.

Maserati and Alfa Romeo have made shitty cars forever, but marketing put poor quality control practices down to "character". Buying an expensive car and calling frequent breakdowns as characterful is just not acceptable.

While these names are romantic, their behaviour is certainly not and I'm glad they're suffering for it now.

[carjack3090]

Originally Posted by Sensible_Speed

When Mckinsey gets involved, you know the manufacturer is going to do what is being rumoured. Mckinsey's services throughout its history have been to affirm the board's horrid decisions and offload some of the blame through its legal deceit.

Time to say goodbye to Alfa and Maserati forever I guess.

But, the decision makes sense. These names have more value than the

The Europeans are not in favor of Chinese takeover, you know what that means. Come on Tata, Mahindra go for it.

[Sensible_Speed]

Originally Posted by carjack3090

The Europeans are not in favor of Chinese takeover, you know what that means. Come on Tata, Mahindra go for it.

Thing is, Fiat being as deeply nationalistic as they are, are stubbornly pouring money into ailing marques. They've kept the Lancia nametag alive and on life-support for so long. While it is a commendable thing to do, they are no more an autonomous entity now. Stellantis is a global behemoth with American brands accounting for a large part of their global sales. Profitability is the bottom line for any company and if they're failing so miserably at it, I think they might have no choice but to offload their big names.

Regarding Chinese takeovers, they don't have a business case to do so. Alfa Romeo and Maserati are non-existent in the Chinese market. Italian brands in general have been quite slow on the uptake there. Even Ferrari has struggled there. Perception of a Chinese developed Alfa or Maserati will only sink the brand deeper into the abyss they find themselves in.

The only prudent option would be to spin them off as either a big name flagship like Jaguar is attempting, or consign them to the history books forever. Either way, it will be a big loss to the automotive world to see two special marques go away so. It happened to Deusenberg and Packard, so we can perhaps move on from this quickly.

[ads11]

Originally Posted by jnanesh

Was thinking the same, Mahindra probably would be best suited since they already own Pininfarina, besides Tata already has JLR.

Whilst Tata owned JLR have done a number of things through their tenure, with some cross fertilisation of platforms, what precisely has Mahindra done with Pininfarina?! Other than the flashy announcement of some Rimac-esque EV supercar with ludicrous numbers right after their takeover, I've not seen or heard a wink since.

The woes of Alfa and Maserati far predate Stellantis, they go back to the fateful decision to form the FCA group. I still think that was the bum deal that the greedy bean counter Marchionne saddled onto the Fiat Group. Sure they got Jeep and Dodge out of it and the former has helped keep the group afloat but I think it seriously hindered some pragmatic decision making for the core companies. They should've stuck to the markets they were strong in.

The other issue I think was a mistake for Alfa especially is the same thinking that afflicted Jaguar execs in the noughties, and that's thinking they could try and get German Big 3 sales numbers. At least for Jaguar they realised eventually that this was never going to happen and instead they pivoted to a lower volume, higher margin approach. This is of course before this root and stem controversial full rebrand. One wonders if Alfa had just taken that decision from the outset, if they'd have fared better.

Anyway by the time the PSA group bought FCA I did wonder if there was too much overlap between group brands. I find it hard to see who they would flog these brands to. Tata don't need them as they have Jaguar to resolve, neither does Mahindra in all honesty. None of the other European marques are going to grab them given the much larger existential issues they face. Can't see the Koreans going for it, Genesis is quite nicely coming along as their premium brand. No chance the Japanese go for it either. That only really leaves a Chinese buyer or someone like Vinfast. If Vietnam hadn't been so royally buggered by the tariffs, I'd say a loud mouth company with a hugely sketchy safety record, led by a brash nationalistic billionaire would be just the kind to try and scoop up some storied brand names like Alfa or Maserati in the hope their brand cache rubs off.

[Utsav_199]

Sad news, while Maserati was indeed struggling with products that were not so desirable and had questionable price points, Alfa had genuinely desirable and emotive products - the saloon Guilia from the reviews seemed just like the perfect emotive sports saloon being dubbed as the saloon that Ferrari would build at prices that undercut the Germans.

The Guilia is among the few cars that still sounds good and has layers to it's soundtrack even in it's 4 pot version, let alone the Ferrari derived V6 (chopped 2 cyls from the California).
Again from the reviews, it seemed it was genuinely communicative with it's steering and chassis - you'll have to fork out Porsche 911 (718 gone in India and on the verge of extinction globally) money today for that as the big 3 Germans in my experience are mostly wooden these days including the M cars with their steering translating not much and chassis talking in quite whispers that too only when provoked hard.

Yes, Maserati did not have much to do with QA, but Alfa seemed much better comparatively.

Sad to see them go especially the Guilia and it's Suv brother.

[vrprabhu]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Conglomerates are just machines that have no soul....

Reminded me of an old article in EVO mag by Richard Porter... and, felt hurt on reading the comment about Punto and Abarth