The transformation of Maserati from the maker of pretty but additionally pretty rare hands-built grand touring coupés right into a fully fledged global luxury vehicle brand continues to be forging ahead at full steam within the last 3 years.
However with this road test subject you are looking at an extremely large and conspicuous climax.
The Levante may be the seventh Maserati to become named following a wind, following the Bora, Ghibli, Shamal, Mistral yet others
The brand new Levante is interesting since it takes an italian man , brand right into a third permanent production base and swells its showroom offering to 5 models when, within a century in history, it's rarely built greater than 2 or 3 at any given time.
It's also vital, since it takes Maserati in to the greatest and many lucrative area of the world’s luxury vehicle market.
But it’s most outstanding because, as you’ll without doubt have observed, it’s an Sports utility vehicle: a £54,000, high-riding, four-wheel-drive, five-metre-lengthy reason to not purchase a Range Rover Sport, Porsche Cayenne, BMW X6 or Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupé.
Whether Maserati ought to be making this type of vehicle has turned into a moot point. As lately departed company Chief executive officer Harald Wester could continually be relied upon to indicate, risking the Maserati brand on the big 4x4 - given how popular they've become - is really significantly less cavalier than declining to do this.
With Porsche, Bentley and thus a number of other luxury brands already feeding off the advantages of big-selling SUVs and Aston Martin, Alfa Romeo, Rolls-Royce and Lamborghini soon to participate them, Maserati has clearly judged that it is sporting status isn’t apt to be eroded here - and if it's, it’ll be considered a cost worth having to pay.
The Levante is, obviously, only one a part of a procedure of wholesale expansion and alter at Maserati. As the Granturismo and Grancabrio continue to be largely hands-built at Maserati’s lengthy-established headquarters in Modena, the present Quattroporte and Ghibli have, since 2013, occurred at Bertone’s old Grugliasco plant.
For the reason that context, Maserati’s expansion right into a refurbished a part of Fiat’s historic Mirafiori factory in Turin (in which the Alfa Romeo Mito is created) for Levante production appears just like a less contentious move of computer may have.
But, as brand traditionalists will note, this vehicle is not built-in Modena, it’s no sleek, elegant saloon or coupé and, for the moment, as well as in the United kingdom a minimum of, it’s available just with a diesel engine.