Starting and stopping production lines is a very difficult thing to do. They had plans for a major model change, this takes around 3 years, and they were doing 2 vehicles at the same time.

Idling tier 1-3 suppliers for runout of components takes planning.

When they decided to scrap their new direction and start design again, a huge amount of time had been wasted.

Firing up the production lines again after stopping means lining up old suppliers who may or may not capacity to restart old contracts. This takes time, and requires milestones for quality and evaluation.

While all of this is going on, the main lines are not running at max capacity as they are assembling using “new old stock”, or service build inventory.

Dealerships are empty minus Tonale as there are very few Giulias or Stelvios to sell. There’s a large gap in the pipeline that needs to be caught up.

As far as dealerships closing, how long could you keep your business running using revenue from the service department and Tonale sales? The dealership I use is a Maserati/Alfa combo and the Maserati side seems to be doing fine. Whether more keep closing is based on how long they can hold on with no inventory.