Our philosophy is that the top end of the
market works well, the bottom end works
well, and in the middle it’s really tough!
MWD: I’ve noticed a really up-beat feeling
at Maserati’s new headquarters on William
Nicol Drive, right in the hub amongst other
exotic car distributors. And I have been informed that there has been a sudden upsurge in sales, and interest in Maserati since
the new deal.
GS: There is one thing I find, and that is that
people sell cars. We’ve set up a good team
in Johannesburg, under Brad Green. What’s
also happened is that Maserati now has a
home, a dedicated home, and the team
does nothing else but Maserati. I think when
you walk into the showroom you see much
more stock than there used to be, and we’ve
seen the market has responded to this.
There’s lots of traffic through the showroom,
there’s a good order-write for the brand, and
this is just the beginning.
Shortly we’ll be setting up in Cape Town, and
also in Durban.
MWD: What about servicing of existing Maseratis, bought under the previous distributorship?
GS: Absolutely. We will take over the warranty
commitment, and service plan and maintenance arrangements. We have a dedicated
workshop in Johannesburg, we have technicians on the ground in Durban and Cape Town.
MWD: It seems there has been an upsurge in
sales since the switch.
GS: The sales are strong. We’ve always seen
a potential for Maserati in Africa. If we can
continue our monthly sales rate that we’ve
achieved in the first two months of operation
we are going to have a cracking year.
In terms of new product, we are officially
launching the Ghibli in South Africa in the next
few weeks, and following on from that is the ex-
citing Levante SUV. It’s a product that we feel
will move well in South Africa, because, like Australia, South Africa has a great appetite for SUVs.
After that we move into the new Alfieri, a
great supercar. The factory has made no secret of development money being allocated
to Maserati.
MWD: Do you think this stand-alone move in
South Africa will see the Maserati brand gaining a much stronger identity here, and not
being seen as it was to an extent in the past,
as an “entry-level Ferrari”?
GS: I think Maserati deserves to be acknowledged for its own identity. It has a huge history,
including creating one of the greatest Formula
One cars ever made, in the 250F (which won
the World Championship in 1957). But there will
always be a link with Ferrari. Ferrari build the
engines used in the Gran Turismo, the Quattroporte, the Ghibli and they will continue to build
the engines in up-coming models.
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