Stellantis Plans to Divest Maserati Due to US Import Tariffs

KatadataOTO – The import tariffs proposed by United States President, Donald Trump are causing various automotive manufacturers to struggle. This includes manufacturers within their own country.

It should be noted that additional import tariffs will be imposed by Trump on goods imported into the US, including four-wheeled vehicles.

As a result, countries that send their vehicles there must pay varying amounts of import tariffs. Therefore, if a manufacturer does not have an assembly facility in the US, this certainly becomes a new challenge.

Although Trump mentioned that locally produced vehicles would not be subject to tariffs, in reality, there are no purely US-made cars.

Photo : Tech Crunch

As reported by Carscoops on Friday (11/04), the Stellantis Group, which oversees several brands such as Jeep, Citroen, and the premium brands Alfa Romeo and Maserati, has temporarily laid off 5,400 employees at its plants in the US, Canada, and Mexico.

Production activities in Canada and Mexico have also been temporarily halted for about the next month.

Stellantis is also preparing several other strategies to face the US import tariffs, such as selling the Maserati brand or partnering with other manufacturers to help develop their vehicle lines and technology.

Speculation has emerged that Maserati will be taken over by Chinese investors. However, this was denied by Santo Ficili, CEO of Maserati and Alfa Romeo.

Maserati had been considered for sale since last year due to low sales. In 2024, the figure only managed to reach 11,300 units.

The negative impact of import tariffs will continue to be felt by various parties, especially in the automotive sector. Even for Ford, which is known as a US brand.

Ford pickup trucks are assembled in the US, but they consist of thousands of components and spare parts supplied from various countries. Thus, the existence of import tariffs has the potential to increase production costs and cause car prices to soar.

Also Harming US Automotive Brands

Photo : Stellantis

Although import tariffs are imposed to protect local industries from the influx of imported goods, in reality, US automotive brands are also likely to be harmed.

The three manufacturers with the highest sales in the US are GM (General Motors), Ford, and Stellantis. In 2024, the three of them sold approximately 1.85 million imported vehicles.

GM is a US automotive company that oversees Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac. The three main export destinations for GM are North America, South America, and China.