Yesterday was a busy day for Agent 009 as he scrambled to get live all-new, leaked images of the Maserati Levante, which is the Italian automaker's first crack at a sport-utility vehicle. We've seen what an SUV can do for a high-performance brand (e.g., Porsche) and we're interested to see if the Levante can give Maserati a similar lift.
After a series of leaked images yesterday, it seems this forced Maserati's card and the sports car manufacturer released official images and details for the Levante. Thing is, the details remain pretty slim.
Maserati LevanteAccording to our Italian friends the vehicle will debut at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show and soon thereafter the Levante will make its way into European showrooms. In fact, the first vehicles have already rolled off the production line.
Later this year the Levante will debut in other markets — no specific timelines were provided.
In addition, no power figures or chassis information was provided. But the company did let us know that it will feature an eight-speed automatic gearbox. We're expecting it to feature the same gas and diesel engines found in the Ghibli.
Note: there are ZERO official images of the Levante's interior but 009 posted a
great scoop of a Tesla-like center stack yesterday.
We'll let you know of the latest news surrounding the Levante as it breaks, right here on AutoSpies.com.
Maserati Levante
Maserati's press release follows: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.