Friday 17th April 2015

Maserati Levante out testing

The Italians want a slice of the sporty SUV market; is this the car to take on the Macan and co?

---

Car company's test mules aren't designed to look good. But even by the sometimes visually challenging standards of the genre it's fair to say that few have looked as ugly as this, a floorpan prototype for the forthcoming Maserati Levante SUV. And a car that, on first impressions, puts the 'f' into 'ugly'.

The Germans have milked this cash cow enough

Don't be too alarmed, though - even behind the camo wrap the finished car won't look like this; it seems to be a Ghibli that's been chopped and cropped to match the Levante's dimensions, ride height and top-heavy weight profile.

And as might have spotted from the pictures, it was spotted by our man at the 'ring Dale at the filling station closest to the circuit, in between stints testing on the Nordschleife.

The use of the Ghibli is interesting, though - suggesting that Maserati might not be spinning the Levante off a modified version of the Jeep Grand Cherokee platform as previously reported. Fiat Group's useful habit of partly revealing its future model strategy as part of its five-year plan means we do know what engines the finished Levante will ship with.

Demand is there, Maser wants to supply it

These include a trio of turbodiesels, including a 345hp version, plus turbocharged petrol V6s and a range-topping turbo V8 with 550hp. All versions will have four-wheel drive and an automatic gearbox, and we'll be seeing the production version later this year.

 

 

 

 

Bit of vid

Photos and video: Dale Lomas

[Jonny TVR]

why not just get a saloon .. what is the point of SUV's

[ZesPak]

The fact that they sell?

Beats me as well, worse performance, worse economy, usually more expensive...

[Devil2575]

Horibble but probably a great way to let everyone know how rich you are.

[Zumbruk]

Doesn't the "Levante" name belong to Caterham?

[Atmospheric]

Heads need to be hung in shame.

[MIP1983]

[quote]even behind the camo wrap the finished car won't look like this
[/quote]

Phew

[daytona365]

Looks like an extremely squashed and bastardised Quattroporte to me. A caricature almost.

[Risotto]

Jeez, even BMW would think twice about putting something that jaw-droppingly ugly on the market.

[anonymous-user]

Risotto said:

Jeez, even BMW would think twice about putting something that jaw-droppingly ugly on the market.

Did you read the article? Says it won't look like this.

[unsprung]

Would be fun if they could manufacture it exactly like this. Camo and all.

The Fiat Multipla and the Pontiac Aztek have nothing on us! We are, eh, molto ugly.

target audience: "oooh, that urban safari livery... gotta have it..."

[Wills2]

I'm an advocate of saloons, but every time I drive a mates SUV I think oh this is nice!

[anonymous-user]

That
Looks
Bloody
Awful.

[anonymous-user]

Read the article people!!!!!!!!! It won't look anything like that!

[SuperPav]

It's a test mule. Although even for a test mule, that is a bit of an abomination.


Poor effort on the numberplate

[KTF]

Jonny TVR said:

why not just get a saloon .. what is the point of SUV's

Why not just get an SUV, what is the point of a saloon...

[andrewparker]

MonkeyMatt said:

Read the article people!!!!!!!!! It won't look anything like that!

Haha, always amazes me how many people open an article, look at the pictures, read none of the words, then make a daft comment. Come on guys FFS.

[ZesPak]

KTF said:

Why not just get an SUV, what is the point of a saloon...

Better performance due to lower weight and lower CoG, better fuel efficiency due to lower weight and better aero and usually cheaper to buy.

[oldtimer2]

SUVs now outsell sedans in the USA. Among the reasons: higher driving position; easier to get into and out of; replaces the traditional estate car. For many this equals greater convenience than the traditional sedan.

The Maserati camouflage looks very effective with the false extra roof and bonnet covering. But it is obviously aimed at a coupe rather than estate car profile and at the sporty rather than the practical end of this sector. Like most Maseratis I expect the finished article will look good.

[ptopman]

It's not like their other cars are anywhere near as graceful as they were a few years ago.

The front-end on the Ghibli looks like a cross between the BMW 3 and Mazda 6 - except with uglier headlights. Even the interior is more than ever in line with the various, rather downmarket, Fiat ranges. Why should one go for Italian when the best thing they do, the "Italian flair", is so very obviously absent?

For all I'm concerned, they can release this thing exactly as seen in these pictures, camo and all. What better way to signal that somebody's rich than frivolous purchases. "I chose to buy this ugly thing because I don't care about money".

There. Maserati may have come up with the ultimate "luxury product". Surely that no longer means high quality anyway.

Edited by ptopman on Friday 17th April 15:53

[ZesPak]

ptopman said:

It's not like their other cars are anywhere near as graceful as they were a few years ago.

Still look a lot better than most of the competition, with a very nice line to them and a distinctive family face.

ptopman said:

The front-end on the Ghibli looks like a cross between the BMW 3 and Mazda 6 - except with uglier headlights. Even the interior is more than ever in line with the various, rather downmarket, Fiat ranges. Why should one go for Italian when the best thing they do, the "Italian flair", is so very obviously absent?

While I agree on the front end (the Mazda looks better even imho!), the entire line of the car still looks very, very good.

ptopman said:

For all I'm concerned, they can release this thing exactly as seen in these pictures, camo and all. What better way to signal that somebody's rich than frivolous purchases. "I can afford to buy this ugly thing because I can".

That last sentence sort of sums up what BMW have been doing for over a decade, surely? Besides, it won't look like this anyway so a moot point.