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Maserati Levante SUV Caught on Film, It’s Twin-Turbo V6-Powered

A ridiculous-looking Maserati test mule has been a favorite hunt for our carparazzi in the last few months. If pictures was the name of the game ’til now, the performance-oriented SUV test mule from the House of the Trident can now be seen in action.
Maserati Levante 1 photo
Photo: SB-Medien
The video below depicts a pre-production test mule of the long-awaited Maserati SUV, which is rumored to take up the Levante moniker by the time it reaches the Frankfurt Auto Show in September 2015.

As you can see, the vehicle slowly approaches a pedestrian crossing. After passing it, the driver performs a U-turn, but only to accelerate vivaciously in the direction it originally came from.

That’s all we needed to confirm that’s the sound of the twin-turbocharged V6 petrol-fed mill we know from the Maserati Ghibli S. It’s a 3.0 that generates 410 horsepower at 5,500 rpm and in Sport mode reaches a maximum torque of 550 Nm (406 lb-ft) at a mere 1,750 revs per minute. However, it’s still a mystery if the Levante’s V6 will boast with the same figures as the engine fitted to the sporty Ghibli.

Three things are certain though - it sounds really good even when you just blip the throttle to get away, its diesel counterpart will be offered too to maximize the Levante’s appeal and the Q4 all-wheel drive system will come as standard. Don’t be put off by the prototype body shell or the masked weight on the roof. We estimate that it will be shelved for a far better looking exterior at the beginning of next year.

That’s because the company's engineers have a lot of work to do when fine tuning a production-ready bodywork. Let’s remember how Bentley were forced by angry potential customers to change the design of their upcoming SUV because it was borderline hideous. The Italian brand can’t afford to mess this up. Let’s keep those fingers crossed everything goes as planned and the Levante will debut at Frankfurt.

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About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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