Both Fiat and Maserati have suffered major production issues as a supplier of plastic components stopped delivering parts.
Selmat, the company responsible for these parts, informed Fiat a month ago that it would be stopping production between 29th April and 2nd May, but the result of this has had a profound effect on the companies involved.
Maserati's production line has not been operational for the past four days due to the lack of parts, putting a massive strain on the already struggling brand. Parent company Fiat also faced heavy delays in the production of its 500 model at its plant in Poland and the 500L has been affected at the facility in Serbia.
European production for the Chrysler Group - in which Fiat and Maserati are both a part of - has been suffering huge losses of late. The Fiat brand took losses of around €700 million last year and this delay in production is said to be affecting 'thousands of workers' and will cause the company 'serious damages'.
In response to this, CEO of Selmat Enzo Maccherrone stated, "Fiat is making all this noise just because they wanted to buy my company at a bargain price." Fiat did not comment on Maccherrone's remarks.
In order to salvage the brand, Fiat is aiming to boost high-end car sales in Europe, including Maserati's Quattroporte and all-new Ghibli. The halt in production is sure to have a profound effect on Maserati's increased sales targets on these models; as well as Fiat's goal of profitability in Europe by 2016.
Selmat says that deliveries of the 7,000 components it supplies to the group has now returned to normal; meaning that production for both brands should be back up to speed before long.