Planning for the next phase of its growth, Maserati is increasing its sales volumes and its worldwide presence while setting new, important, industrial goals. On top of their sales and profit success, Maserati have also been winning on the track. For the second consecutive year, the MC12 has triumphed at the Spa 24-Hours.

Maserati is an automotive company on the move. The consistent growth of the last eight years continues and, with a complete model range including the Coupe, the GranSport and the Quattroporte, Maserati's 2006 sales are well in line with the company's expectations. Maserati has prioritized laying long-term foundations to meet the next step of our growth by improving the structure of the company and strengthening the sales organisation. From 1998 to 2006, the company consistently improved both its production systems and its sales volumes. In 2005, after the fundamental phase of the Ferrari-led re-launch, Maserati began preparations for its next big step. This next big step will be a coming of age for Maserati, with new models and further growth, concentrating on their core business, which means having the best cars in both the coupe and luxury sedan markets.

Maserati invented the modern definition of "Sports Sedan" with the original Quattroporte in 1963. With the current range of the Quattroporte, the Quattroporte Sport GT and the Quattroporte Executive GT, Maserati continues to add to its legend. It has perfected the definition and gone even beyond to build a car that has defined a new trend in Premium cars and creating a Super Premium Segment that is characterized by stunning performance and surprisingly refined ride quality.

Maserati is therefore competing today in a segment of the market with companies like Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche. This means that Maserati is positioned in the most competitive part of the market and has found a legitimate place as a credible, exclusive alternative. This fact has been very well accepted by our customers, as evidenced by Quattroporte sales continuing to climb around the world. The Giugiaro-designed Coupe and GranSport are also experiencing increasing success, particularly in North America. The latest addition to this family makes its debut in Paris, with the introduction of the GranSport "Contemporary Classic".

Improving the structure and strengthening the organisation

Maserati has been working hard to support its products and to lay the foundations of the next phase of its growth. Maserati is investing continuously and heavily in systems and processes. Quality has been one of their key focus areas, with a special quality department accounting for 10% of all Maserati employees. The reason is clear: reaching to be the best is one of the basic elements of Maserati's success around the world. New dealerships and new markets flourish. In recent months, a new dealership has opened in Milan and second dealership has opened in Moscow.
 

Kiev and Taipei have their first dealership and when the new dealership opened in Sofia earlier this month, Bulgaria became Maserati's 58th market worldwide. This proves that customers are increasingly recognizing Maserati as an exclusive brand that builds the only alternative to a mainstream brand in the super premium luxury market. Maserati has appointed four dedicated Area Managers to support these growing areas and co-operate with the importers. These areas have been broken into Eastern Europe; South-East Asia and the Pacific; Middle East and South Africa and; South America, Japan and Korea. Maserati also has six direct branches (USA, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and West Europe), as well as a joint venture in China. Maseratis are now sold in 58 markets, though 259 dealerships.

A Year of Growth in emerging markets

Maserati sales in the first eight months of 2006 have consolidated the successes it achieved in the same period of 2005. The sales results so far this year have consolidated the volumes for the same period in 2005 and are in line with Maserati's expectations for the total year's sales, and have been boosted by significant sales growth in North America, China, Russia and the Middle East.

Maserati's Chinese presence is now distributed across 11 dealerships and, as a result, China has recorded a spectacular 113% growth in its sales over the same period in 2005. In Russia, Maserati's sales have grown 65%. Sales in the Middle East are up 19%; in Japan sales are up 11%; while in Australia sales have increased by 9%. Maserati has also recorded a significant 6% year-to-date sales growth in the United States of America which, combined with Canada, now makes up 44% of Maserati's global sales. Worldwide, the GranSport line-up has more than doubled its 2005 up-to-date sales volumes. Demand has been so strong that the United States sales in August pushed it to be the most successful month in its history.

Industrial Synergies

Alongside the rise in sales and international presence, Maserati has upgraded its industrial structures. Amongst these measures has been a massive concentration on quality, with the strengthening of Maserati's internal Quality Department so that it can count on new state-of-the-art technological tools and a workforce equal to nearly 10% of Maserati's 600-strong workforce. Also significant in terms of growth and the expanding potential of the company is Maserati's co-operation with Alfa Romeo on the 8C Competizione, which has debuted in Paris. This is a tangible example of the integration between the Alfa Romeo design and the Maserati production departments.

Maserati Races Ahead

Maserati started as a competitive company and has always kept a special eye on racing activity. Maserati now concentrates on endurance racing for two reasons: the challenge it poses to their engineering staff and what the results prove to their customers. The first Maserati road car, the Maserati Tipo 26, won its class at the Targa Florio. Eighty years later, Maserati has won the Spa 24-hour race for the second consecutive time with the MC12 of the Vitaphone Racing Team. That means Maserati now has two victories at Spa from its first two attempts. Winning Spa meant the MC12 of Eric van de Poele, Michael Bartels and Andrea Bertolini endured 589 laps of the Spa circuit, in one of the most demanding endurance races in the world, clearly demonstrating the total reliability of a Maserati.