Stellantis Chief Executive Officer Antonio Filosa said the company is in talks with two potential partners for Maserati, which will have implications for the plants producing the ailing luxury brand’s cars.
“We are in talks with two important partners that can bring technologies and a series of excellent ideas; we’re deciding with which one to work in the future,” Filosa told Italian lawmakers at a parliamentary hearing in Rome on Wednesday.
This was in response to several questions on the future of Maserati and of the Cassino site that assembles both Maserati and Alfa Romeo cars. He didn’t identify the potential partners.
One year into Filosa’s tenure, the 52-year-old CEO is trying to allay concerns among key stakeholders, including the Italian government, about the group’s plans to allocate the bulk of future investments outside of Europe.
Stellantis has been signing a flurry of partnerships with Chinese automakers, further adding to concerns among labour unions and politicians.
Filosa said there’s no plan to sell Maserati or the underused Cassino plant near Rome. He said Cassino’s future will be “closely tied” to that of Maserati and the brand will remain “an icon of Italian style.”
The new Maserati plan, to be presented in December, is “ambitious” and will include two new key models, Filosa said.
“Certainly Maserati isn’t up for sale, certainly Cassino isn’t up for sale,” Filosa said.
“What can happen in Cassino, like elsewhere, is collaboration partnerships” for the development and manufacturing of car models, he added.
The Maserati partnership being discussed would have implications for the Stellantis plant in Modena, where some other Maserati models are assembled, Filosa told lawmakers.
A third plant — in Pomigliano, close to Naples, where Stellantis plans to focus manufacturing of high-volume affordable electric vehicles — might also be a candidate for a potential partnership, Filosa said.
He said all partnerships in Italy will be structured similarly to those with China’s Zhejiang Leapmotor and Dongfeng, meaning via joint ventures that are 51% held by Stellantis.
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