Maserati to be split fm Ferrari?

[F355GTS]

http://europe.autonews.com/

[McNab]

Always fancied a General Motors Maser, and/or getting a Maser srviced by a Fiat franchise...

It's been a brief honeymoon, but if Ferrari want to offload Maser and offer their own shares to all and sundry, so be it. I don'r really think I'd want Ferrari shares, but some optimists might...

Any takers?

[maserati3200gt]

Here Here.

[danhay]

As posted on F-Chat:

I think this would be a big mistake.

Maserati is a great way for Ferrari to share the development costs of it's engines and control systems with a higher volume product.

Having said that, if they do calve off Maserati I could see a re-emergence of lower end Ferraris like the GT4!

In the long run it doesn't make sense though.

[rico]

This can't be positive for either company!

Ferrari will loose out on having a smaller company to share materials and engines with.

Maserati will loose out as they are often seen as a prestigious younger brother of Ferrari.

There are apparently no FIAT dealerships in America so where the heck are Maserati going to service and sell their cars? Set up a nationwide series of show and repair centres? Doubtful..

Very intriguing...

[rubystone]

But if Ferrari own Maserati - a loss making concern, how would they possibly benefit from sharing costs between the two companies? If one of them is losing money,the other will be sharing losses with it, not only costs!!!!!!


If Ferrari is floated and Maserati continues to use Ferrari components, Ferrari will benefit from the sale of those components to Maserati.

[exint2]

This seems like a bit of clever accounting to me.

Fiat owns 56% of Ferrari which owns all of Maserati which means that effectively Fiat already has 56% of Masser as well ..... so it is already effectively in charge of both companies destinies now.

It is now buying something it owns from something else it owns .....

The key thing will be - if this actually happens who will be in charge of Masser? because I assume that Ferrari will want to continue joint developemnt of various things, and they also share the same paint shop....

Basically - Who knows!!!!!!!!

[propaganda]

I can't see this as a good move. As has already been pointed out Ferrari and Maserati benefit from shared development costs, by hiving off Maserati Ferrari would theoretically have to fully absorb those costs against it's own production figures. So even although Maserati may be losing money, part of Ferraris profits come from reducing its development costs by way of each Maserati sold. Surely if Ferrari goes public Maserati would be a route to increasing Turnover and revenue in the future - whereas Ferrari on its own has capped production and must derive growth from Merchandising, F1, and technology sales. The markets like growth.

There is no doubt in my mind that Maserati would find it a lot harder without the distribution network and reflected kudos of Ferrari.

[456mgt]

propaganda said:

I can't see this as a good move. As has already been pointed out Ferrari and Maserati benefit from shared development costs, by hiving off Maserati Ferrari would theoretically have to fully absorb those costs against it's own production figures. So even although Maserati may be losing money, part of Ferraris profits come from reducing its development costs by way of each Maserati sold. Surely if Ferrari goes public Maserati would be a route to increasing Turnover and revenue in the future - whereas Ferrari on its own has capped production and must derive growth from Merchandising, F1, and technology sales. The markets like growth.

I agree. I don't understand the logic of how an investor would make money from holding Ferrari stock. You have to assume there is some logic from the company's viewpoint, such as using its paper for acquisitions, perhaps to buy Maserati, Alfa Romeo etc. For the moment, Maserati would have to go, to make the Ferrari balance sheet look healthier and attractive to institutional investors.

[rubystone]

I think you may be missing the point here. FIAT is in the shit. Maserati can't make money, even by sharing components (major ones at that) with Ferrari. Ferrari is the one profitable brand in the FIAT empire and the one with the most brand value.

FIAT wants to float Ferrari to maximise the value of its shareholding in that brand (and I bet that Mediobanca is pushing hard for this to happen in order to recoup something from its loans to FIAT). It can't float Ferrari with the Maserati boat anchor round its neck - no-one will buy Ferrari paper then!

If FIAT decides to keep Maserati afloat, Ferrari will still benefit from selling its technology to Maserati - I bet that the process is totally one way at the moment - from memory, the only thing that Maserati could offer Ferrari is that clock that resembles a lady's front bottom....

[Nigelo]

I think Rubystone has hit the nail on the head - Interesting news article on BBC's site in this connection on link
[url]http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4223157.stm[/url]

Fiat's "Put" option is contested by GM but could still attract a multi-billion offer by GM to buy it out thus significantly improving Fiat's finances.

Re Maserati, in order to make money you have to invest and that is where the Maser losses apparently come from - they now need to sell the cars they have paid to develop to recover R and D costs and hopefully earn a profit.

If Maserati ownership moves directly to Fiat Group, why assume Ferrari will have no further connection. They could earn considerable fees from the association which could still involve marketing (incl dealership networks) etc in addition to R and D etc.

If Ferrari are floated with an IPO, my guess is that Fiat and Enzo's heirs will still retain a significant, perhaps even controlling, interest.

>> Edited by Nigelo on Wednesday 2nd February 13:26