ferrari & maserati break up?

The price for the whole assembly was actually a mistake for $18k also. I called again and the price for the F355 pump is in fact $16,xxx. The pump for the Maserati however is only $960-975, I don't have the exact #. I apologize for being incorrect. The information I was given was false. I double-checked with two other sources to make sure the under $1k quote was correct and it was.

I'll make sure to spread the news on Maserati forum.

Regards,
Kevin

 

Maserati needs to be positioned against Bentley and Aston Martin, not against BMW/Mercedes/Porsche.

Selling them along side of Ferraris didn't help the cause. They need to be marketed as more of a lower key GT car, not as a junior Ferrari. The prospective buyer needs to be nurtured into the brand, something you can't do with Ferraris being sold along side.

Now, if you took Maserati and let the Italians do the styling and the Japanese do the engineering and sold it out of a Lexus or Acura dealer, sales would go through the roof.

 

Are you suggesting that Fiat should let go and sell Maserati to Toyota or Honda? That'd be good - Toyota especially makes cars which are perfect from an engineering point of view but hopelessly dull and cold (yes, Lexus included): Maserati's style, tradition and passion would be exactly what they need to spice up their image.

 

As long as the Italians are running the design end of things, and using dependable Jap components. Toyota and Lexus are big security blankets for people nervous about ever having to repair a car. "We'll pick you up and feed you mocca-cinos and give you a shiatsu massage in our lounge until the wiper blades on your SC430 are replaced." -- Maserati does need to at least consider this. The danger is when the beancounters start enforcing parts-sharing for the important stuff.

Of course, all my Lexus-owning friends rave about the reliability of their cars -- and then want to go for a ride in mine.

 

Funny that.

 

That's exactly what I am suggesting.

 

Could you see a company try to fill up the gap of the $60-$150k that Mercedes and BMW were know so well for, before going downmarket? Porsche is starting to try to do this, expand to a full-model lineup with cars atleast around $45,000.

 

if maserati is sold to a japanese car manufacturer , they'll become the slowest, most reliably exotic car in the market!

 

No, I can't. It is a slippery slope down.

 

Whoa, it's not just the styling and certainly not with the current coupe that makes Italian cars fun to drive as well as exhibit some soul. There IS engineering involved as well.

Bob S.

 

True, but it is something the market doesn't trust.

 

Maybe it's more the manufacturing than the engineering? Some how they need to keep the Italian engineering that's desireable and flush the rest.

Sounds simple, right?

 

Before I left FoD, the word was that because of the miserable state of affairs in Fiat, they were going to make a separate marketing group that included Alfa and Maserati and blend that group together. This, to me, would seem to make sense, allowing two pretty decent cars to compliment each other in the showroom, both in price and intended use.

Fiat was bleeding so much red ink that they were considering all sorts of options and that was one of them.

Fact is, that is one reason I left FoD. Not by my choice or the owners, but Maserati was demanding that Ferrari dealers completely change their sales staffs because they thought people who originally sold Ferraris were giving no importance to Maserati. I like Maser and always thought that the marketing guys did a terrible job of presenting the product in the market. They were told, change your Maser sales staff or risk loss of allocation of Ferraris. Consequently, for business reasons only, I bit the bullet and had to go.......Would I go back to Ferrari again??? Absolutely!!!! Maserati? Only if the people who were running the decision making end of it were gone and someone was brought in to MARKET the cars........

Well, somehow I got on again under my sons signon. This is not Shiloh Phoenix but Audiguy..