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According to foreign media reports, Carlos Tavares, chief executive of Stellantis, said at the 2024 Paris Motor Show that Stellantis may sell or stop producing its lossmaking brands in order to protect the company's long-term profitability. Tang Weishi stressed that although the company's 14 brands are profitable at present, it will be impossible to retain those brands that no longer create value for customers in the future. Tang Weishi pointed out that the Maserati brand is facing difficulties, mainly because the market positioning has not yet been established, but the company has found a way to turn things around and is expected to help Maserati get back on track.

Maserati is one of the Italian ultra-luxury brands, founded in Bologna on December 1, 1914, the company is headquartered in Modena, the brand logo is Trident. Maserati has been ill-fated since its birth, and has been acquired or owned by Italian industrialists Adolf Orsi, Citroen, Chrysler and Fiat. In 2014, Fiat Chrysler Group acquired Maserati, so that the brand can be retained. After the merger of Fiat Chrysler Group and iconic Citroen into Stellantis Group, Maserati is now one of the brands of Stellantis Group.

As the only ultra-luxury brand in Stellantis Group, Maserati's performance is not satisfactory, Maserati's shipments, net revenue, adjusted operating profit margin and other indicators declined in the first half of the year. Of this total, shipments were only 6500 vehicles, compared with 15300 vehicles in the same period, with net revenue falling by more than 50% to 631 million euros, and adjusted operating profit margins from positive to negative, falling by more than 200 million euros. In the Chinese market, according to data released by the Federation of passengers, Maserati's import sales in the Chinese market in the first half of the year were 214, 129, 140, 109 and 96 respectively, a total of 777 vehicles, down 70% from the same period last year. In order to reverse the decline in the Chinese market, Maserati announced a change of leadership on September 25, and Hanbang became the new general manager of China, responsible for the commercial operation of the Trident brand in China.

Data show that Stellantis Group's net revenue in the first half of the year was 85.02 billion euros, or about 670.199 billion yuan, down 14 percent from a year earlier and lower than the expected 87 billion euros, while net profit in the first half was 5.65 billion euros, or about 44.538 billion yuan, down 48 percent from a year earlier and below expectations of 6.97 billion euros. In terms of market segments, North America is the main contributor, contributing more than half of the operating profit of 8.463 billion euros to 4.366 billion euros, while in the Chinese market, Stellantis Group combines China, India and the Asia-Pacific region, and the operating profit in the first half of the year is only 57 million euros, almost negligible.

Due to the serious decline in revenue and profits, Stellantis Group officials said that unprofitable car brands will be closed in the future. Officials did not specify which brands will be closed, but some analysts said that Lancia, DS and Alfa Romeo are in relative danger because these brands are relatively minority and sales are not high, and Maserati is rumored to be one of the brands sold because of poor performance. But the Stellantis Group finally clarified that it would firmly hold on to the Maserati brand.

Earlier, it was rumored that Chery Automobile, a Chinese car company, would buy the Maserati brand. Chery responded that it was not clear about the acquisition, while Stellantis reiterated its commitment to its brands, saying that each brand had a 10-year window to build its sustainable and profitable business. The implication is that there is no intention to sell the Maserati brand for the time being.

It is worth mentioning that just 4 days ago, Stellantis Group announced a large-scale change of management. Among them, Antonio Filosa succeeds Carlos Zarlenga as chief operating officer of North America and is also CEO of Jeep brand; Jean-Philippe Imparato succeeds Uwe Hochgeschurtz as chief operating officer of European region and CEO of "Pro One Commercial vehicle Business"; O'Siming succeeds Natalie Knight, who will leave; Gre é goire Olivier is appointed chief operating officer of Stellantis Group in China and continues to be responsible for working with zero cars. Santo Ficili was appointed CEO of Maserati and Alfa Romeo brands and served on the group's global executive committee. In addition, CEO Carlos Tavares Tang will step down as chief executive of Stellantis Group and retire when his term expires in early 2026, and Stellantis Group is looking for a successor, which is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Stellantis Group said: "in order to promote process simplification and improve organizational performance in a volatile global environment, Stellantis Group announced targeted management organizational change, which takes effect immediately." In response to this series of senior job changes, Tang Weishi, CEO of Stellantis Group, said: "in the Darwinian era of the automotive industry, our duty and moral responsibility is to adapt and prepare for the future. We need to provide environmentally friendly, safe and reasonably priced travel services better and faster than our competitors. The newly appointed management members will make a valuable contribution to our entire team to meet the challenges ahead, and strengthen and accelerate the transformation of the group into the preferred mobile travel technology company.

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