http://www.autoweek.com/cat_content.mv?port_code=autoweek&cat_code=carnews&loc_code=index&content_code=05588671 Enjoy your Maserati's while there not glorified VW's.
So will there be a new topic board here "Other Italian cars owned by a German company " Would not bother me if this happens, Did not care when I owned a Porsche so what's the difference here. Could even make ours a little more special, To own the last Maserati built while under Ferrari management. But on the other hand I seem to remember things did not work out so well when the Italians and Germans worked together in the past
Whatever... I wouldn't shed a tear. Did anyone really feel that Ferrari and Maserati were bound together at their soul? Alfa Romeo is more closely associated to Ferrari than Maserati. I always saw the F-M relationship as business-related, not something related to their very essence (an important aspect of the F mystique.) The Ferrari soul will live on!
I say GOOD. Jettison Maser so you can focus on the core business which with cars like the ancient 575M, the diminishing importance 360, and the gouge-your-eyes-out-ugly 612 needs help. Finally Luca gets it right.
Hooray. Now maybe Forza magazine can get back to writing about Ferrari, instead of Yet Another Maserati Marketing Article
Probably not. Most F-car fanatics have a way of spinning everything Ferrari related into a positive situation. Those same people that were blasting the Audi-Lambo relationship will be spinning a VW-Ferrari relationship into a whole different light.
Yep and for those of us who own GT Class Maseratis we can say we own a pre-DeTomaso, pre-Ferrari, pre-Audi ...... When Italian car manufactures still spoke Italian ..
VW's profit fell 87%, the lowest in 10 years. Currency effects could reduce operating profit by 1.2 Billion Euro's this year if the Euro stays between 1.20 and 1.25. The Euro/$ reduced operating profit by 300 Euros in the first quarter of this year. IMHO VW will not be aquiring Maserati anytime soon.
Car companies seem to have a string of great years and then a few bad years. My question is, how much cash does VW have in their war chest? And how much are they going to spend to try and buy their way into a more profitable position for the next up-swing in their business cycle?
Getting gas is nothing short of a major spectacle with the Murci. It's like the circus came to town, and the car is the main attraction. In general, people are mostly positive in their comments, which is nice. However, taking 20 minutes to get gas when you are on your way somewhere can be tedious. But, I always try to be courteous with everyone -- I think it's important that they don't develop negative feelings towards exotic cars and their owners, so that we can (hopefully) safely park them places without being keyed, spit on or kicked. There are always some people that will disrespect your car (for whatever reason), but I've been trying my best to keep all the vibes positive.
I think 'Napolis meant to say 300 million Euros. I could be wrong. Indeedly-do, 1st 1/4 profits down 87% - VW and their other people's cars by the numbers "Chief Executive Bernd Pischetsrieder, who last month called the quarter 'miserable,' plans to cut 4 billion euros in costs and eliminate 5,000 jobs by 2005 to boost profit."
Sales in North America fell 14 percent as Volkswagen refused to match levels of rebates offered by competitors.
lol, and what prey tell do you think Maser is actually worth right now? Let's put it nicely: VW will get them for a song, and it definitely looks like it's going that way. Ferrari is done with the Maser experiment.
So I guess that means it's possible that their profits were still ok. Fewer sales, but more profit per unit than the competitors that had to give rebates to keep "sales" up. Right?
What kind of negativity have you heard? I've never been able to understand that mentality. Even when I had nothing, I never critized those that have everything. Instead I tried to emulate them. On that topic, I saw a poll the other day that basically asked "Should Bill Gates be forced to give away 75% of his wealth during his lifetime?" 80% of the voters chose "yes", and there were over 15,000 results tabulated. That's shocking to me. How many miles have you got on the car now Clax?
Nothing really too negative, mostly just comments like "nice inheritence" or something to that affect. But mostly been positive. I have about 2000 miles on it now.
I lived in Detroit for a few years and the car companies were funny. The cost to re-tool and bring out new models also has something to do with wacky numbers.... I remember two years of gloom and doom and no light at the end of the tunnel for FORD. Then a year later profits of 1.3 billion and every other person in Detroit running around with a big profit sharing check. All of a sudden, everyone I know just bought a boat It was like drug money, where did all this cash come from??? I'd love to be an account for one of the major car companies
There already sharing parts or will be very shortly. So the true italian Maser will no longer be anyway. I think VW most likely will buy it, but damn there car portfolio is getting huge.
VW will buy whatever they deem a good long term investment.Dont let their current "paper" woes kid you.They have been down that road a couple of times,and record earnings followed.