Ferrari’s Q1 2019 earnings call on May 7 revealed some interesting information about the brand’s future moves, such as how the Prancing Horse will stop supplying engines to (former) sister brand Maserati.
You may recall that both brands were under the same FCA roof until 2015 when Ferrari was spun off from its parent company as part of an IPO.
Despite that, Ferrari has continued to build V6 and V8 engines for use in Maserati models such as the Ghibli, Quattroporte, Levante, GranTurismo and GranCabrio models. Pretty much the entire lineup, that is, but things are about to change.
“Well, as you know, we have a contract. And as you know, Maserati has announced that at the end of that contract they will not renew it,” Ferrari CEO Louis Camilleri said during the Q1 earnings call posted online by The Motley Fool. “So, eventually, we will no longer supply engines to Maserati, which actually from our perspective is actually a good thing, both from a margin perspective, but also the fact that we can transfer a lot of the labor that’s been focused on the engines to the car side of the business.”
The executive said Ferrari will stop shipping engines in either 2021 or 2022. Beyond that point, the Maranello-based company has no intention of supplying engines to any other company.
Maserati has used Ferrari engines in its models since 2002 and the partnership continues to this day. Currently, Maserati uses a 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6, 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8, and 4.7-liter naturally aspirated V8 power plants built by Ferrari.
It remains to be seen where Maserati will source its engines from after Ferrari stops the collaboration. Obviously, it could develop its own engines or find another supplier — within FCA or outside the parent company. How does a Dodge-powered Maserati sound to you?