We’ve been seeing the camouflaged variants of what we suspected to be the Levante roaming around the streets of SA for quite some time now and not too long ago Maserati unveiled some official images of its high-end luxury SUV. But, now that Geneva has begun, the Italian manufacturer has officially revealed its Cayenne fighting heavyweight.
The Levante has pretty much been the only Maserati project in the works after the Quattroporte other than the already unconfirmed Alfieri as it hopes to enter this rapidly growing segment. From a visual point of view, despite having the sleek and sublime Maserati like lines and signatures, it doesn’t look anything like the brand has produced before with an overall length of five metres.
Inside, things look surprisingly more dynamic. Thanks to the long three-metre wheelbase there is a lot of room to be had. It’s filled with leather upholstery and wood and plastic trimming but Maserati has said that the interior is highly customisable on order with a variation of 28 different colour combinations. Along with this, Levante patrons will be kept entertained with the help of an 8,4-inch touchscreen infotainment system loaded with network connection based apps.
Engine options for the Levante will consist of the following Maserati powerplants:
- A detuned 3,0-litre twin-turbo V6 delivering 261 kW and 500 N.m of torque which will achieve a 0-100 km/h time of 6,0 seconds and a top speed of 251 km/h.
- A stock 3,0-litre twin-turbo V6 delivering 321 kW and 580 N.m of torque which will achieve a 0-100 km/h time of 5,2 seconds and a top speed of 264 km/h.
- A turbodiesel 3,0-litre V6 by VM Motori delivering 202 kW and 600 N.m of torque which will reach 0-100 km/h in 6,9 seconds with a top speed of 239 km/h.
- No V8 mentioned as yet.
All of these powerplants will be mated to a Q4 all-wheel drive system through an eight-speed ZF transmission with different surface traction settings while mated to an LSD.
For the sake of comfort the Levante will be given air suspension as standard which will work together with the front double-wishbone and rear multi-link five-arm suspension to provide a variable GT and off-roading experience. Brembo brakes have also been issued to provide the large SUV with some much needed stopping power. The more powerful V6 will be equipped with a larger set of 380 mm front and 33o mm rear disks.
