Maserati and Alfa Romeo May Split Off to Become a Separate Company

At this point, it’s probably safe to say very few, if any, people know what’s going on at Fiat Chrysler. Maybe a Chinese automaker will buy the entire company? Or not? Or maybe a different automaker will buy Jeep? In case you weren’t confused enough, the latest report says FCA’s next move might actually be to split Maserati and Alfa Romeo off into a separate company.

According to Bloomberg, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, and the entirety of their operations may soon split from the rest of FCA, allowing the remaining companies to focus on selling mass-market vehicles. But the alleged reason isn’t necessarily to sell more cars. It’s to make a merger with another automaker more likely. Bloomberg‘s source says several other options are being weighed as well, so FCA may still change its mind. Regardless, don’t expect a decision before 2018.

If Maserati and Alfa Romeo did split off into their own company, Bloomberg says analysts estimate they’d be worth about $8.3 billion together, and the parts businesses would be worth approximately another $5.9 billion. But as it stands right now, Maserati doesn’t have nearly the brand cachet of the recently spun off Ferrari, and Alfa Romeo is far from an actual BMW or Mercedes-Benz competitor. Both brands will need serious injections of cash to become more competitive.

Then again, FCA could always sell off Maserati and Alfa Romeo like it considered doing last year. Maybe a Chinese company would be more interested in that deal.

Source: Bloomberg

 

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