Fiat Splits Maserati from Ferrari

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

Flush with $2 billion from its General Motors settlement, Fiat shook up its car brands today, splitting the Maserati marque from the Ferrari racing unit to link it more closely to its sporty but slow-selling Alfa Romeo.

La Bestia An Alfa Romeo 164 in action.

The move is widely seen as the first step in a long-awaited public stock offering of Ferrari, whose results are being held back by losses and high investment costs at Maserati. It could also hail a foreign expansion of Alfa, famed for its Spider convertible, its lovely Giulietta and such legendary sports sedans as the 164.

"Under this deal, Alfa Romeo and Maserati will establish a close technical and commercial collaboration especially in big international markets," Fiat said in a statement.

Alfa Romeos have not been sold in the United States since 1991 and earlier plans to return to by 2007 were shelved by former management as sales in Europe fell.

Fiat said Maserati would continue to work closely with Ferrari on engine technology and its commercial network.

The Alfa Romeo V-shaped grilles are loved by car fanatics the world over, but the company underperformed the market for years, and last year sales fell almost 7 percent in Italy.

Alfa Romeo, whose Spider was driven by Dustin Hoffman in the 1967 film "The Graduate," has much more in common in styling and performance with Maserati's speedsters and sleek limos than with Fiat-branded cars.

Fiat won a $2 billion settlement earlier this week from General Motors, ending the troubled partnership the companies established several years ago.