Spent the last several days having dreadful 'flu, and this joyful bit of news hasn't exactly helped my recovery.
The whole Fiat empire has been in such a state of flux recently that it's impossible to guess the consequences. The outcome of the put option with GM will be critical, but it doesn't look imminent, so what immediate effects could this have?
The best scenario would be a simple separation of accounting procedures within Ferrari/Maserati, and a continuation of engineering/manufacturing co-operation, but how will new Ferrari shareholders view such a compromise? No doubt with extreme distaste.
At the other end of the scale we have the prospect of Fiat running (ruining?) Maserati, with a disruptive separation from Ferrari input. Also, imagine buying your Maser from a Fiat franchise, and enduring their legendary service.
Or maybe at the end of the day you'll be buying a GM-Maserati? The mind boggles etc etc.
I can't see the point of the exercise. Yes, Maserati have made a loss due to factory upgrading, new model introductions and low volume production, but given a couple of years this could have been reversed, and the Ferrari/Maserati Group could have been floated with confidence.
Thoughts?