Introducing the Maserati Levante

It has been a while now since Maserati had announced their decision to start creating vehicles with high ground clearance joining the likes of Bentley who has released the Bentayga and Jaguar with their F-Pace. Not much has been said about the SUV after that but now we finally have a name and a face to the SUV that has been churning in the Mirafiori plant in Turin.

Known as the Levante, there is no mistaking the SUV as anything else but a Maserati. Like all of the brand’s creation, the Levante has the same aggressive front end along with the three iconic air vents on the front wings, the trapezoidal C-Pillar with the Saetta logo and even the large frameless door windows to match.

New to the Levante though, is tapered headlights separated into two elements with the upper headlight unit connected to the radiator grille. The rear, on the other hand, is dominated by the very tapered back window and streamlined shape that is normally found on a high-performance sports car.

Don’t worry, although this is foreign territory for the brand, Maserati has made sure to gift the Levante the same outstanding on-road performance typical of all Maserati cars. So expect the Levante to have unrivalled handling even on low-grip surfaces along with excellent off-road performance and ride.

All versions of the SUV are equipped with sophisticated electronic suspension with controlled damping and adjustable air springs. The Levante is driven on Q4 intelligent all-wheel drive with an eight-speed automatic transmission that is specially calibrated for the car. Although there is still not much technical numbers on the powerplants, Maserati has announced that the car will come in both petrol and diesel options.

The Levante will be making its debut at the 2016 Geneva Motorshow, so stay tuned for more details of the SUV along with pictures of the car in the metal!

Jerrica Leong