After revealing just the exterior earlier, Maserati has officially launched the all-new Levante at the Geneva Motor Show. With this car, Maserati aims to enter the Premium SUV market that is heavily dominated by the Germans. Also, since the new trend in the automotive industry is crossovers and premium crossovers, Maserati too wants a piece of that delicious pie. So, in my opinion, it is a great move.
Coming to the car itself, well, it looks a lot like mix between the Infiniti FX and the Porsche Cayenne. The front is aggressive thanks to that massive grille that clearly shows the Maserati logo and those angular headlamps. The side and the rear give it a more civilized and premium look. Overall, the Levante is based on the Ghibli platform.
This is clearly proven by the powertrains available. The Levante SUV is powered by the same 3.0 liter twin-turbo V6 available in 2 versions. The regular Levante will have 350 BHP and the S model will have 430 BHP. Both the engines will be mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission. Add to that a full-time all-wheel-drive system and the SUV will propel from 0-100 in 6.0 seconds in the base version whereas the S variant will take a nippy 5.2 seconds.
Maserati is clearing doubts of this car not being able to perform off-road. They are terming it as having unrivalled handling even on low-grip surfaces and an excellent off-road performance and ride. But, in GCC, like all other premium SUVs, the chances of buying such vehicles for offroading are close to none. So, for those looking for on-road performance well, the Levante will have computer controlled dampers and 50/50 weight distribution for fast cornering speeds.
Interior features include premium materials of Maserati standard, 8.4 inch touchscreen, adaptive cruise control, forward collision alert, auto braking, lane departure alert, blind spot detection and 360 degree camera.
The car is priced around 280,000 AED and is expected to reach this market in the second half of this year.
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