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Maserati future looks bright

The 2010 year saw 47 per cent increase in sales in the US, 54 per cent in China and 46 per cent in the UK.

The specialist Italian car maker recently reported its 2010 profit, together with the year's 5777 unit sales, which was up about 18 per cent on 2009.

Maserati spokesman Luca Dal Monte admits 2009 was a depressed year - because of the global financial crisis - but on that still reported a $15 million profit for the company on sales of under 5000. It is a far cry from the record sales year of 2008 when Maserati made 8586 cars and one that may not be repeated soon.

Dal Monte predicts 2011 will have "about the same'' sales as 2010. Asked if product development will be stifled by modest sales increases, he says it was incidental. "Profit doesn't affect future development,'' he says. "We are part of the Fiat Group.''

With Fiat behind it, Dal Monte indicates that new projects - the mid-size prestige saloon, a new Quattroporte and an SUV - are assured.

Fiat bought Maserati in 1993 but it wasn't until 2007 that it made its first profit for some decades. In 2008, thanks to a resurgence of the marque, profit tripled over 2007 to about $110 million. The 2010 year saw 47 per cent increase in sales in the US; 54 per cent in China (off a low base as 402 cars sold that year); and 46 per cent in the UK. One week ago, Maserati opened a dealership in India.

Maserati, like Ferrari, build to customer orders under the philosophy of making "one car less than is ordered''. That ensures it carries no stock and has minimal downside when global car sales slump.

Neil Dowling
Contributing Journalist
GoAutoMedia Cars have been the corner stone to Neil’s passion, beginning at pre-school age, through school but then pushed sideways while he studied accounting. It was rekindled when he started contributing to magazines including Bushdriver and then when he started a motoring section in Perth’s The Western Mail. He was then appointed as a finance writer for the evening Daily News, supplemented by writing its motoring column. He moved to The Sunday Times as finance editor and after a nine-year term, finally drove back into motoring when in 1998 he was asked to rebrand and restyle the newspaper’s motoring section, expanding it over 12 years from a two-page section to a 36-page lift-out. In 2010 he was selected to join News Ltd’s national motoring group Carsguide and covered national and international events, launches, news conferences and Car of the Year awards until November 2014 when he moved into freelancing, working for GoAuto, The West Australian, Western 4WDriver magazine, Bauer Media and as an online content writer for one of Australia’s biggest car groups. He has involved himself in all aspects including motorsport where he has competed in everything from motocross to motorkhanas and rallies including Targa West and the ARC Forest Rally. He loves all facets of the car industry, from design, manufacture, testing, marketing and even business structures and believes cars are one of the few high-volume consumables to combine a very high degree of engineering enlivened with an even higher degree of emotion from its consumers.
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