Maserati Levante to Reportedly Debut in Detroit in 2016

Maserati Ghibli (Credit: © Maserati)

The Levante is yet another luxury SUV for a small automaker that is in play solely to drive in profits, and a new report De Telegraf claims that it’ll debut at the 2016 Detroit Auto Show in January.

We’ve seen Porsche do it, Bentley and Rolls-Royce are both in the process of doing it, and Aston Martin is also working on it. For Porsche, defying tradition and entering the SUV market was a smashing success, and I don’t expect much different from the Maserati Levante.

The report goes on to claim that the Levante will have a fairly expansive lineup of engines, including one diesel and three gasoline engines. The diesel powerplant, which won’t be available in America, will likely be a fuel-sipping V-6. The base gasoline engine should be the same 3.0-liter V-6 found in the base Ghibli, but retuned from 345 horsepower to around 350 ponies. The midrange engine will also be a 3.0-liter V-6, but this will be the hotter version that the current Ghibli S uses. This engine will put out about 450 horsepower in the Levante.

The big-boy of the engine lineup will be a 3.8-liter V-8, which it will borrow from Ferrari. This engine will likely be based upon the same bones as the V-8 under the hood of the California T, but with its output bumped to 580 ponies.

The report also claims that Maserati will only release a five-seat version of its upcoming SUV. This will help keep its footprint small, which will make it more agile and sporty, while retaining Maserati’s signature luxurious cabin.

Only time will tell if the Levante will have the same impact on Maserati’s coffers as the Macan and Cayenne have on Porsche’s, but there is no reason to think otherwise. This is particularly true when considering the Levante will reportedly cost between €90,000 ($102,186) and €200,000 ($227,081).