[Maverick]

Maserati CEO Harald Wester has said that he is counting on the Maserati Levante to move somewhere from 20,000 to 25,000 units a year after its 2015 release. Do you think that this goal will be achieved?

I think that the Levante will sell even more than they are expecting actually.

 

[mavante]

With the right pricing, features, marketing, etc there will be a good chance that they will get the type of sales they want. We'll have to wait and see.

 

[pitchfork]

its a lofty goal

But Maserati sales have been going up this year noticeably.

 

[gibson]

maybe, but the Cayenne has only breached 15K units once, although its on pace for 17K this year...

 

[St.Who]

maybe, but the Cayenne has only breached 15K units once, although its on pace for 17K this year...

This is a good point. The Maserati Levante is going to be more expensive than the Cayenne, so it is quite possible that the Levante will not move quite as much as the Cayenne. Although I think that demand in the segment is only going up and people will be excited about the Levante when it debuts.

 

[Maverick]

The Levante and the Cayenne will be going head to head basically. Everyone will be looking at the sales race. I think they will move right around the same amount in the first year that the Levante comes out.

 

[pitchfork]

hmm if the Cayenne isn't even at 25k yet

Hard to say if Maserati can do it.

 

[St.Who]

If global auto sales continue to increase all the way to 2015 then I think this is achievable. People are buying more high-end cars and more low-end cars, its the middle that is suffering. In other words, rich people will still be rich enough to buy a nice and expensive Maserati like the Levante when the time comes.

 

[pitchfork]

agreed. budget cars sell well and expensive cars sell well

the middle class cars are suffering.

 

[mavante]

The Levante and the Cayenne will be going head to head basically. Everyone will be looking at the sales race. I think they will move right around the same amount in the first year that the Levante comes out.

I think the most interesting thing will be seeing how the Maserati catches up to the Cayenne in sales.

 

[pitchfork]

you mean IF Maserati catches up the the Cayenne in sales.

 

[gibson]

right now maserati is selling about 3000 units per month...

keep track of ghibli sales, Levante shiould be priced below Ghibli so it will be a good initial indicator...

 

[mavante]

you mean IF Maserati catches up the the Cayenne in sales.

IF is much more like it.

The cayenne is a strong selling and won't lose momentum any time soon in sales.

 

[gibson]

dont forget Levante will also face downmarket pressure from the smaller Porsche Macan...

 

[mavante]

dont forget Levante will also face downmarket pressure from the smaller Porsche Macan...

This is true. What will help maserati is how they can attract people to the Levante in ways that Porsche can't with the Macan.
We just need to know more about the Levante

 

[pitchfork]

Maserati does have its own following

Though not as large as Porsche.

 

[mavante]

Maserati does have its own following

Though not as large as Porsche.

They do.
But they'll also have to do some serious marketing to get the word out and to even attract a whole new type of maserati buyer

 

[pitchfork]

Unfortunately Maserati doesn't release sales numbers of specific models.

But that would be a great indicator of the popularity of cars like the Levante and Ghibli.

They both cater to similar markets imo

A few Ghibli owners are cross shopping the Cayenne so no doubt the Levante will get cross shopped when it is available.

 

[mavante]

Definitely some good amount of cross shopping between Maserati and Porsche.
Once the Levante is out it will be cool to see how well it sell compared to the strong selling Porsche.