If you just procured $2 billion from the world's largest automaker, what do you buy? Maserati. Fiat announced that they would buy Maserati from Ferrari. Fiat wants to "find technological and commercial synergies" to help their Alfa Romeo brand. The company says the move will help in development for Alfa but who knows what it will mean for Maserati. This story also hints that this move could bring Fiat stateside since Maserati has such a large presence in the United States. Fiat has not announced now much of the new money they had to use to secure this purchase.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bsadighi @ Dec 18th 2005 10:31PM
Hmm... 2 billion loss in the past two years by Fiat and Maserati was in the dumps under them until picked up by Ferrari... You know what the equals right? Bye, bye Maserati, it had been a nice few years.
Chris @ Dec 18th 2005 10:31PM
Fiat was already on the hook to buy Maserati before the GM deal. Ferrari is shedding dead weight to make the books look better for their pending IPO.
alps @ Dec 18th 2005 10:31PM
am i crazy? i thought fiat owned ferrari already.
motech @ Dec 18th 2005 10:31PM
dam fiat!
such assholeeeeees
motech @ Dec 18th 2005 10:31PM
and take your dam grill back from subaru - they dont want it!
Whydrive @ Dec 18th 2005 10:31PM
Now that GM is no longer on the hook for Fiat, Fiat can focus on what it does best - spend money it doesn't have (but know that the Italian government will always bail them out). Fiat and Mitsubishi has to be the top 2 worst auto makers (with Renault not far behind).
rolliedemay @ Dec 18th 2005 10:31PM
Those crazy Italians. This is just a joke they are putting out right? Reminds me of those stupid commercials about how to spend new found lottery money. They can't possibly be serious right? I mean, come on---there are hundreds of places they could spend this money to really help their manufacturing/design/dealer position.
Jy @ Dec 18th 2005 10:31PM
I don't get it. i think FIAT owns ferrari and maserati.
Insolent1 @ Dec 18th 2005 10:31PM
Fix it again, Tony!
Phil @ Dec 18th 2005 10:31PM
If Fiat already owns 56% of ferrari what the hell are they doing spending $2 Billion to buy a brand from a company they already own? The only possiblity here is that they are in fact trying to make ferrari look more attractive for its IPO and then dump they're stake on the open market. Gotta figure 56% of ferrari is worth a bit more than $2 Billion, i just dont see how its worth spending that money on a niche market company when you're already losing money like no ones business.
Slippery Pete @ Dec 18th 2005 10:31PM
Will somebody (please) answer the damn questions by alps and jy? I'm pretty sure Fiat already owns Ferrari. I'd bet a limb on it. This story doesn't make sense.
Whydrive @ Dec 18th 2005 10:31PM
Fiat Auto does not own Ferrari. Fiat SpA owns a percentage of Ferrari SpA (I don't know what the exact percentage is). Fiat SpA can be considered the parent company of Fiat Auto (like Hyundai Group and Hyundai motors).
Phil @ Dec 18th 2005 10:31PM
uh, read my earlier comment as well as the comments in the later ferrari article. 56%, which means fiat spa has the controlling stake in ferrari (who has 100% stake in maserati). who knows how the books are kept, but it still would seem that fiat is spending a sh*t ton of money on a brand (read brand, not company) that they appear to have a significant stake in. italian automakers... go figure