autoevolution
 

Maserati SUV Officially Named Levante

As we had previously speculated, since Maserati chose to revive an old name for their upcoming 5-Series rival - Ghibli, it was a fair assumption that they would be using the Levante name for their upcoming SUV. They plan to boost sales considerably, from the 6,150 units they shifted last year, to some 50,000 by 2015.
Maserati Levante 1 photo
Photo: Maserati
The name is, of course, Italian, and it means ‘east’. It is a nod towards the company’s move into a bigger production facility, on Via Emilia Levante, in Bologna, way back, in 1919 - it’s good to see automakers using tradition-minded names, instead of making them up.

The Levante SUV will be built on a Jeep Grand Cherokee platform, with some modifications in order to give it that sporty Maserati feel, as well as to enable it to compete with the Porsche Cayenne, the new Range Rover, BMW’s X5 and X6, as well as Mercedes’ ML.

Of that total figure of 50,000 units that they want to achieve by 2015, Maserati hopes that at least half of them will be Levantes. If they get it right, it may catch them by surprise, and they may have a winner on their hands.

Story via autonews.com
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories