Il Tridente strikes back

Some brands are known for their sales success and for how articulate and developed their company strategy is. But for the petrol heads of this world, that doesn’t necessarily reflect their passion for cars. Then, there are small and exclusive brands that produce limited series cars aimed at the wealthy, the 1% of the world. Then there’s Maserati. Italian by nature, which means Italian design, engineering and performance; these are the attributes of a unique luxury car maker that crucially speak to the heart of petrol-heads wanting to experience a product that shows what you want from life: pleasure from over indulging in speed and style. To quote the great Sir Stirling Moss, “the nicest Formula One car to drive was probably the Maserati 250F” (TopGear, 2016).

Maserati is known for its rich and long history of producing great automobiles and for competing successfully in international motorsport. However, it has also produced disappointing cars and infamously built a reputation based on promises that didn’t materialise. All of which has contributed to the despair and frustration of fans of this special car brand. Newly appointed CEO, Davide Grasso, wants to resurrect the brand and has commented to the press: “we’re putting in place all the steps required to deliver on our promises because, at the end of the day, a brand is a promise”.

This year Maserati will turn 106 years old on the 1st of December. It began as the dream of five brothers, Alfieri, Bindo, Carlo, Ettore, and Ernesto, over a century ago that ignited the spark to create the luxury grand tourers that carry their family name along with the famous Neptunian trident logo.

The story of the company’s logo and how it was chosen is linked to the Maserati brothers' desire to show their connection to their hometown of Bologna. There is a statue in the town’s Piazza Maggiore of Neptune with his trident that inspired the design of the logo by Mario Maserati.

Maserati once competed in motor racing, including Formula 1. What made the team famous was the creation of the 250F that entered the Formula 1 championship in 1954 with legendary five-time world champion Juan Manuel Fangio. Famous race victories include the 1954 Argentinian Grand Prix and the Nurburgring Grand Prix, with Fangio winning the race after a spectacular comeback. Maserati retired from racing in 1957 after a deadly incident involving one of their cars at the Mille Miglia race.

Today, Maserati proudly acknowledges its heritage in motorsport with the launch of their new MC20 supercar. The car uses Formula 1 technology and its power unit is derived from the Formula 1 technical know-how of its engineers. This mirrors the early days of the company, when the Maserati brothers were designing successful race cars and then introducing that knowledge into their first road-going grand tourers, such as the 3500. Nevertheless, Maserati is a different company now than it was back then. It is backed financially by one of the world’s largest automotive manufacturers, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and has a detailed business strategy, including new model launches, to make sure the brand doesn’t fade away from the market as it has been in danger of doing over the course of its rich history.

At the September 9th launch of the new MC20 supercar in 2020, details of the company’s business strategy were shared with the media. Maserati has promised to launch twelve new models in the next five years, with the MC20 kicking off this strategy. The flexible architecture of the new power unit means it will be adapted and used on all the new models that will come from the state of the art production plant in Modena. There will also be a battery powered electric-only variant of this new power unit that will be fitted to the MC20 and other new cars including the Granturismo car (named Alfieri). This new business strategy shows Maserati is serious about its commitment to stay relevant and to ultimately compete against the best in the sector.

So far we know that in 2021 Maserati will launch a new small SUV, the Grecale, that will sit under the bigger Levante and will be produced in the same plant as Alfa Romeo’s Stelvio. Alfa Romeo and Maserati were once under the same technical and management direction under former CEO Gerard Wester, although the two brands have now been separated to avoid confusion and conflicting sales strategies. New CEO Davide Grasso says he wants to put Maserati back on the map of the luxury car sector, but to do so he believes that launching new cars isn’t enough – indeed, the brand must support its products with a dedicated product lifecycle management strategy.

Launching new cars alone however will not guarantee a road to success. To put it in automotive jargon, there will be plenty of twists and turns along the way, so handling will be crucial both when it comes to engineering the car’s driving dynamics as when dealing with the expectations of the market and wider industry stakeholders. As always, we look forward to testing the results.