Maserati is an Italian automaker that specializes in luxury cars. Maserati, identified by its trident logo makes cars that are known for their style, luxury, and sporty design. The company is currently owned by Foat Chrysler Automobiles which also owns other brands like Alfa Romeo and Abarth.
The top selling brands of Maserati are Ghibli, Levante, Quattroporte, Gran Turismo, and GranCabrio. From a production of 42100 units, the company registered an annual turnover of 3.5 billion Euros in the year 2016. The company has also been associated with racing cars and made cars for the Grand Prix in the early 1920’s.
The Maserati brand has won various racing events since then and the company continues to manufacture cars for racing events.The various product categories of Maserati include the saloon, executive sedans, crossover SUV’s and grand tourers. In addition to this Maserati also gives customers the option to personalize their designs.
Strengths in The SWOT analysis of Maserati
Strengths are defined as what each business does best in its gamut of operations which can give it an upper hand over its competitors. The following are the strengths of Maserati:
- Sales Boom in China: It is a well-known fact that though China is one of the most lucrative markets for cars, it is not an easy market to break into. But Maserati has made the impossible possible as they sold over 12000 Quattroporte models in the year 2016. This acted as a boom for the company.
- History of Innovation: The brand has a history of being innovative in all its models and many of its racing victories can be owed to the discovery of lightweight alloys. They have also been innovative and unique in their designs and though many automakers have tried to model themselves on Maserati they have been unsuccessful in replicating their success.
- Association with sound. Maserati cars have always been obsessed with sound and the owners can gain access to the Soundcloud account where the exhaust sounds of their models are uploaded and owners can choose from these for their cars.
- Positioning: Maserati has been targeting young drivers and thus they position their vehicles as fast, fearless and stylish. The company has also been consistently designing their sports cars with a younger audience in mind and keeps track of the trends amongst youngsters.
- Association with FCA: Both Fiat and Chrysler are veterans in the automobile industry and other than the experience they have massive production and research capacities. Maserati can use the FCA association to build on both the economies of scale and the economies of scope.
Weaknesses in The SWOT analysis of Maserati
Weaknesses are used to refer to areas where the business or the brand needs improvement. Some of the key weaknesses of Maserati are:
- Accelerator Issues: Maserati has been recalling many of its Quattroporte owing to acceleration issues.The company has stated that there may be extremely high speeds owing to the driver side floor mat anchor issue which in turn can create safety problems.
- Excessive dependence on China: The Chinese market is showing a lot of interest in Maserati and the company is now focusing completely on China to meet its target for sales revenues. This might not be the right strategy.
- Poor customer connect: Though Maserati has clear differentiators and unique product features for each of its cars it has been unsuccessful in communicating the same to its customers. Customers are not sure about what the brand Maserati stands for or its position in the market in terms of segmentation.
- Ambitious Sales targets: Maserati has the Grand Turismo Sedan, The Quattroporte coupe and they compact Ghibli along with an SUV Levante in the market. The company is targeting a sales push which is ambitious considering the market in the western world for luxury cars is slowing down. This plan may prove to be a disaster for the company.
Opportunities in The SWOT analysis of Maserati
Opportunities refer to those avenues in the environment that surrounds the business on which it can capitalize to increase its returns. Some of the opportunities include:
- High market potential for luxury cars: Carmakers are trying to increase the market potential for luxury cars in all markets globally. The current statistics for the market share of luxury cars are at the top with 24 %, U.S. at around 10-12%, China 8%, Malaysia 5.4% Indian 1.2 %, and Indonesia 2.5%. With lower costs of ownership and more access to financial support, these numbers are likely to grow in the next few years.
- Changing customer preferences: Customers are more conscious about their social positions and cars are seen as a symbol of status. With more propensity to spend customers are willing to invest more in quality vehicles. This can be an opportunity.
Threats in The SWOT analysis of Maserati
Threats are those factors in the environment which can be detrimental to the growth of the business. Some of the threats include:
- Competition: The main competitors of Maserati are BMW, Porsche, Ferrari, and Audi.
- Recession: The financial crisis that has hit the globe, loss of jobs, pay cuts and exorbitant taxes may all result in slacking the growth rate of luxury cars market.
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