Maserati re-ignites fleet strategy as it prepares to launch its first EV

Maserati’s evolution has seen it pull away from the fleet market in the last five years as it focused on becoming a modern luxury brand.

Things are about to change, however, as the first two electric Maserati models make their debut this year, and by 2025 everything in its lineup will have electric variant.

Named Folgore – which is Italian for lightning – the new models are expected to revive interest in the Italian brand among corporate buyers.

First to launch will be the GranTurismo Folgore, a high-powered, luxurious two door coupe with a 760PS triple-motor powertrain and a range of 280 miles.

As the brand’s electric flagship, it’s priced from £179,950.

Following shortly after, the Grecale Folgore will offer a more practical, family-friendly package, with a range of more than 300 miles. It will still be fiercely rapid, with more than 500PS on tap.

As a competitor to the new Porsche Macan and Lotus Eletre, the Grecale Folgore will be one of a limited pool of luxury, performance focused electric SUVs on the market.

Maserati has outlined a strategy to retain its brand exclusivity, which means volumes will be limited and discounts will be off the table.

Howard Dalziel, national corporate sales and approved used manager, at Maserati, says: “The pursuit of electric propulsion for Maserati is around performance and luxury, it's not there to exploit any holes in the benefit-in-kind tax system or anything like that. It's the pursuit of that technology to deliver performance.

“It's a happy coincidence for us in the UK, clearly, as there are massive benefits for us in the corporate space. But the intention is the utilisation of that technology for performance.”

Dalziel (pictured left) has led Maserati’s fleet and business sales division since 2017.

Recounting the last time he was interviewed by Fleet News, in 2018, he described how rapidly the fleet market has changed in favour of electrified powertrains, forcing Maserati to focus its channel mix to retail.

In 2016, Maserati’s line-up included the Ghibli, Quattroporte and Levante, all available with diesel engines, which at the time were targeted at fleet customers with the aspiration of Maserati achieving a 50:50 fleet mix.

Peter Charters, general manager of Maserati UK, explains: “We ultimately have left behind a lot of those traditional fleet customers, where we were trying to price alongside a BMW, or Mercedes equivalent. And we just genuinely are not in that market anymore. We're much more luxury. And we are slowly but surely, taking the brand on a journey into a more luxury environment.

“We're not about to put pump 1000s of cars into the market, that's not the Maserati way. It will be modest volumes and it'll be volumes appropriate to the audience that that we're seeking.

“We want organic growth and effectively not being in the fleet market has meant that that's relatively straightforward.”

The UK’s premium EV market is very much led by the fleet sector, however. In 2023, 60% of all EVs sold went to end user company car drivers and in the premium market the figure is closer to 75%.

Maserati, therefore, knows there will be corporate demand for its products and it is using the opportunity Folgore brings to grow its customer base while also staying true to its brand values.

As a result, the Folgore models will only be available in fully-loaded trims and at higher price points than competitor vehicles, to ensure they models remain ringfenced as ‘premium luxury’ cars.

Charters explained that there won’t be a price point variant designed to shift volumes but equally confirmed that the channel mix won’t be restricted.

He described the Maserati fleet customer as “someone who tells their company what car they’re going to drive”.

Dalziel adds: “What we have now is an opportunity where people pay just 2% benefit-in-kind enabling us to address an entirely new audience. And it's about having the right strategy of engagement with that audience. Whilst we don't anticipate an influx of 1,000s of orders, it's clear to me, that if we are engaged with the right organisations, we stand to fare very well in terms of interest in our product.”

While admitting that Maserati will never have the scale to interact with the entire FN50, Dalziel stated that the brand already has the “right strategic partners” in terms of engagement. It has also identified organisations to engage with in the salary sacrifice space.

“We can see ourselves through to a successful position, but again, we don't do that on our own,” Dalziel explains.  “In order to do that we have some really good quality dealer partners. And those dealer partners have absolutely first-rate corporate sales teams who are used to coordinating with their fleet leasing and corporate environment supply opportunities.”

Maserati’s dealer network spans just 12 sites, reinforcing its ambition to remain an exclusive, lower-volume brand.

In 2023 the company registered less than 1,000 cars, the majority of which went to private buyers. While Maserati wouldn’t share its sales aspirations for 2024, growth is anticipated.

Its longer-standing nameplates, such as Ghibli, Quattorporte and Levante, are reaching the end of their lifecycles and the focus is now firmly on Grecale, GranTurismo, new GranCabrio and the brand’s flagship MC20 supercar.