2017 Maserati Levante – The Hottest Vehicle of the Decade

I find it pretty laughable how old the architecture under this is and that it is being represented as new.

Wait until you see the interior infotainment controls. They're ripped straight out of a Jeep! I can't believe Maserati decided to use the Jeep infotainment controls for its high-priced cars. I think the Levante will flop after initial sales success just like the Ghibli did.

I almost got hysterical with laughter at "For example, the initial platform for building Levante was American Jeep Grand Cherokee instead of Maserati’s platform." The so-called "Maserati" platform is the Chrysler 300 with a suspension change up front.

I agree that this will be a sales disaster like the Ghibli. The Ghibli is a very nice Chrysler 300, but it's not worth the price of admission. A base price of $45K for the Ghibli is appropriate given how little "Maserati" it has in it.

People will see through this too.

I predict the Giulia and Stelvio will sell well to the early adopters and then die off as well.

Didn't think the Grand Cherokee shared a platform with the Chrysler 300/Dodge Charger.

Doesn't the Grand Cherokee/Durango share a platform with the M-B GL class of SUV's? ...but anyhoo...unless I was some Maserati fanatic waiting for a brand SUV, I'd hate the Levante. Hope it's comfy & performs very well on the street/hwy.

@dumpsty try to follow the thread of the article. The Maserati Levntate was originally Jeep-based and now it is a Maserati Magnum. Yes the Dodge Durazno is related to the GC and the GL.

Today - with so many companies moving to common platforms for MANY of their vehicles - it makes virtually no economic sense to produce a single new platform for one model - especially one that will sell in the numbers that the Lavante will sell in - even if it is a big hit. VW has platforms that reach from VW to Audi to Porsche - and even Bentley in some ways.

I think today - we should be reviewing the result - the vehicle itself - rather than where the parts came from. THere are only so many manufacturers of these parts - and they produce them for lots of different makes of car all over the world. In its market - and remember that Maserati is in the Exotic area of the Luxury market - there are not a lot of choices that are unique (The Porsche is based on a VW). As an Exotic - I would expect the car to sell well in some areas of europe.

@TomM I agree that the Levante should be judged on its merits, but FCA had two platforms it could have used to underpin the Levante: the Grand Cherokee or the Chrysler 300. And they went with by far the older of the two in a day and age when Mercedes and Porsche and pulling no punches in the crossover wars.

The Grand Cherokee would have made a better Levante.

But apparently it would be antithetical to build a Maserati in the USA--though perfectly OK to build a Jeep in Italy--Sergio went with the discarded Mercedes platform that got dumbed down for the 300 and then had the front suspension mildly reworked for the not-all-new Maserati platform.

Now lets run it against a Cayenne or a GLE. That won't be pretty.

The headline really made me laugh. Then I looked at that ugly thing and went into hysterics.