Lawsuit accuses Stellantis, Maserati of blocking sale of N.Y. dealerships

Dualed Alfa Romeo and Maserati dealerships in Great Neck, N.Y., have sued Stellantis and Maserati North America for denying an application to transfer the franchises.

The suit accuses Stellantis and Maserati North America of wrongfully rejecting the proposed buyer "based on illegitimate, pretextual reasons," including retaliation for a separate suit that Gold Coast Alfa Romeo and Gold Coast Maserati filed last year against Stellantis. FCA, or Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, is listed as a defendant. It merged with PSA Group in 2021 to form Stellantis.

That earlier suit, which is still pending, alleges illegal wholesale price discounts, unfair and inequitable customer satisfaction indexes, unfair and discriminatory vehicle allocations and failure to reimburse the dealerships at their established retail rate for warranty work.

Stuart Hayim owns the dealerships, which the new suit describes as among the brands' largest in the U.S..

The new suit filed July 23 in Nassau County Supreme Court accuses the defendants of "years of gross mismanagement" that "have diminished the value and appeal of the two brands for both customers and potential dealers."

"Gold Coast has done everything in its power to make the dealerships successful and profitable, but even with Gold Coast's exceptional efforts, the dealerships' value has been significantly diminished," the complaint said.

"Not many people are interested in buying Alfa Romeo and Maserati vehicles, let alone dualled Alfa Romeo-Maserati dealerships right now," it said.

Maserati had an adjusted operating loss of €82 million ($90 million) in the first six months of this year and, its global sales fell more than 50 percent to 6,500 vehicles.

"Throughout the United States, Alfa Romeo and Maserati dealers have voluntarily surrendered their dealerships to FCA and Maserati because of their mismanagement of the brands and the destruction of dealer profitability," it said. "There are simply not many buyers interested on gambling on a Maserati or Alfa Romeo dealership."

"Gold Coast is currently trying to sell the dealership while it still has some value" and found a qualified buyer, Slanelli LLC, which it said has the requisite experience and financial capability to acquire and operate the business, according to the complaint. The New York Department of State corporate database shows the company was registered in February.

Under the asset purchase agreement, Slanelli would operate from the dualed store's current location.

It said Gold Coast submitted all the necessary documentation in support of the sale and that Stellantis and Maserati missed the 60-day deadline for rejecting the transfer.

According to the complaint, the defendants unjustifiably rejected Slanelli on the grounds that the proposed management group lacked retail dealer experience; They also expressed concerns over one manager's work at an unnamed Mitsubishi store and a background check that allegedly showed he had a felony conviction.

The complaint asserts that the defendants are refusing to allow the transfer to go through or to exercise their right of first refusal in an effort to let an unidentified entity or person acquire the dealerships instead.

"Rather than exercise these rights and assign them to one of the John Does, or some other potential assignee — and thus require the assignee to purchase the dealerships on the same terms as (Slanelli) — Stellantis and Maserati rejected the proposal outright in order to give Gold Coast's business to one of the John Does at no cost," the complaint said.

The suit seeks an unspecified amount of damages for alleged violations of New York's dealer law.

Spokespeople for Stellantis and Maserati said they couldn't comment about ongoing litigation.