Dubai: Italian luxury car manufacturer Maserati’s projections to serve the market with at least 75,000 cars per annum by 2018 seems to be on track according to Herald Wester, Chief Executive officer of Maserati S.P.A. and Chief Technology Officer, head of Alfa Romeo and Maserati.
“We will stick to the promise of delivering on our plans which we communicated globally 3-4 years back,” Wester told Gulf News in an interview. “If you look at what happened over the past 2-3 years we are closely to halfway of the projected number.
“The next important step, in terms of volume, will come next year with the Levante, our first ever luxury sports SUV. It will not be a 100 per cent availability, not all versions will be available in all markets. But this model will help us get past the 50,000 mark. In 2017 we should go a step further and aim for 60,000.”
There is a penchant for the SUV vehicles in the UAE and Middle East and Wester mirrors this confidence though he refused to put a number on the sales figures of these cars.
“There are no numbers from me but my expectation is simple — with availability of all single markets in the region, of which the biggest are the UAE and Saudi Arabia, I expect us to double sales with the SUV,” Wester said.
Maserati reported a 155 per cent increase in their 2014 sales in the Middle East and Africa region (MEA). Their spurt was had lined by the launch of the new Ghibli, as well as the Quattroporte, the brand’s flagship model which was fitted with a new engine. On a global scale Maserati sold 36,500 cars in 2014 an increase of 136 per cent compared to 2013 and almost six-times the sales figure for 2012.
By all accounts, 2015 will be the crunch year with the Q4, Maserati’s four-wheel drive system, which will be introduced to the Ghibli and Quattroporte models. The launch of the Maserati Levante, the luxury sports SUV will then follow.
“This year is one of consolidation,” emphasised Wester. “We want to keep our volumes set to last year and then with the introduction of the crossover, which has the potential to outperform the Ghibli in worldwide volumes, we can come closer to our projected figure. With the renovation of the Gran Tourismo and two convertible products we will then arrive close to our promised projection in 2018.”
In a global car market which accounts for the sales of 70 million vehicles per year Maserati continues to be exclusive, but Wester is not willing to hazard a guess beyond the 75,000 unit mark.
“I would say that we will never go beyond this,” he admitted. “If you look at Maserati as a brand, I would prefer to have one or the more production capacity, but growing volumes beyond this point is neither in our radar charts nor is it our primary objective.
“The product range and product planning is what we stick to. We have shown the concept car, the Alfieri, which will become a reality one way or the other as successor of the Grand Tourismo so there will be a renovation on the sporty side which was always important for Maserati. Our future line up will see the two sedans, a crossover, a Gran Tourismo, a convertible and a sports car. That, from my point of view, is enough.”
