We’re curious about the name. Is it said “lay-von-tay” or “lah-vant” ? And is it affiliated with the region in the Middle East?
First look tonight at the Maserati savior: the Levante SUV.
This long-confirmed model is already rolling off the assembly line in Italy ahead of its public debut at Geneva in a few weeks.
These four images offer our first official bite of the new Italian Cayenne-fighter’s looks. This model is absolutely critical to Maserati’s survival. The GP and Ghibli are bombing hard in the US market, and the GC needs an update asap. That’s their whole lineup, then.
Maserati has clearly gone to great pains to give the Levante a sharply different, and vastly more upmarket, appearance than its Jeep Grand Cherokee chassis donor.
Power is likely to come from a pair of twin-turbocharged V6 engines, with a turbodiesel a sure thing for the truck’s launch markets in Europe.
The Levante is penciled in for an October USA arrival, with pricing estimated from $70k.
2017 Maserati Levante
Maserati’s first SUV receives its eagerly-awaited world unveiling at the upcoming Geneva International Motor Show
Maserati reveals the exterior form of the Levante, the first SUV in the brand’s more than one hundred year history: the new model completes the existing range of saloon and sports cars, extending the offering together with the Quattroporte, Ghibli, GranTurismo and GranCabrio models.
The design of the Levante features clear associations with the Maserati brand and its distinctive Italian character: the aggressive front introduces new, tapered headlights separated into two elements, with the upper headlight unit connected to the radiator grille. Maserati’s design signature is clearly visible on the sides: the three iconic air vents on the front wings, the trapezoidal C-pillar with the “Saetta” logo and the large, frameless door windows. The rear is dominated by the very tapered back window and streamlined shape, both typical of a high-performance sports car.
At a technical level, the Levante’s chassis is designed to combine the outstanding on-road performance typical of every Maserati with unrivalled handling even on very low-grip surfaces and an excellent off-road performance and ride. The new SUV boasts a high level of content as standard, with all versions featuring: sophisticated electronic suspension with controlled damping and air springs, which can be set on several levels, “Q4” intelligent all-wheel drive and 8-speed automatic transmission specially calibrated for the brand’s new SUV.
When it comes to power units, the Levante is equipped with both petrol and diesel engines that are all Euro6-compliant.
The Maserati Levante is built at the Mirafiori plant in Turin; the first cars have already come off the assembly line with the launch planned for this spring in Europe, to be followed by the rest of the world later this year.
Tom Burkart is the founder and managing editor of Car-Revs-Daily.com, an innovative and rapidly-expanding automotive news magazine.
He holds a Journalism JBA degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Tom currently resides in Charleston, South Carolina with his two amazing dogs, Drake and Tank.
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