Levante V8 under development

Maserati engineers are already working to correct the most glaring omission in the four-engined Levante SUV range.

The Italian sports car brand has inexplicably launched its first ever production SUV without Maserati’s strongest engines, leaving it to fight against the top-end of the SUV market only with a diesel engine.

Launched in Italy this week ahead of first deliveries in Australia by the end of this year, the large all-wheel drive luxury SUV will arrive with just 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel power, because it is yet to establish a business case for right-hand drive versions of Maserati's Ferrari-built 3.0-litre turbo V6.

"It's a great vehicle in diesel and will stand tall in the market," local Maserati chief Glen Sealey told motoring.com.au today. "Petrol would be a much smaller opportunity. Hence getting the diesel right is our first priority for Levante.

"I know for sure we are getting Levante diesel, and from September production, which will be December arrival. The petrol variants are still subject to business case."

That business case also applies to the base 257kW/500Nm model, which is unlikely to be a starter here. Even if all the stars align, the 316kW/580Nm Levante S won't arrive in Australia before the launch of the 202kW/600Nm diesel Levante, which will be by far the biggest seller, commanding up to 88 per cent of sales.

"If the business case came through today as a green light I suspect production for RHD petrol would not start until mid 2017," Sealey said.

"That's if it gets the green light. If it did for sure we would take production."

However, Maserati’s vehicle line executive, Davide Danesin, said a production version of the Levante V8 prototype it is already testing – powered by the rear-drive Quattroporte’s twin-turbo 3.8-litre V8 – could be ready within 18 months.

Maserati's global boss Harald Wester told motoring.com.au after the Levante's world debut in Geneva last month that he has already driven the V8 Levante, which would be sold only in small numbers.

"There are plans," he said of the Levante V8 at the time. "The [sales] numbers there are very small, but we have a wonderful 3.8-litre V8 twin-turbo engine. I have already driven a prototype, so never say never.”

Sadly now, speaking at the Levante's international launch in Italy this week, Danesin has ruled out a right-hand drive version of the V8, leaving the Levante as a V6-only model in the world’s 80-plus right-hand drive countries, including Australia.

“We already have a prototype V8 Levante already. We are testing it, but let’s say it’s not an approved program. It doesn’t for sure mean we will have a V8 production Levante,” the engineer admitted.

“It didn’t take us a lot of time to make it, but making a production version will take a lot longer than making just one new sump.”

The biturbo V8 would give the Levante a much-needed performance boost at the richest end of the model mix.

The new SUV might be stylish, practical and sharp handling, but it’s comfortably outpaced and out-powered by any number of SUVs from Porsche, Audi, Bentley, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, not to mention Jaguar’s new F-PPACE and the SVO versions of the Range Rover Sport.

The most powerful Levante model, with a biturbo petrol V6 from the Ghibli, has 316kW of power and 580Nm of torque, and hustles to 100km/h in 5.2 seconds.

Using the Ferrari-built 3798cc V8 would lift that power output to at least the Quattroporte’s 390kW of power and up to 710Nm of torque, with a commensurate jump in its sprinting ability.

The V8 Quattroporte is V8 is 0.4 seconds quicker to 100km/h than the rear-drive V6 version, and there’s every reason to believe a V8 Levante would get to 100km/h in less than five seconds.

The main engineering impediment to creating a V8-powered Levante is locating the front drive shafts, Danesin said.

“With the V6 engines, the front drive shafts run through the oil sump. That was never engineered into the V8 engine. That’s why the Quattroporte V8 doesn’t come with all-wheel drive.

“We could do it on the Quattroporte with a new sump, but it would lift the engine location by about 60mm, so it would need a new hood, and that would mean we would have to crash test it again. And the handling would be different.

“There is more space in the engine area for the Levante, so it is not such a problem to fit the V8, even with a different, tall sump. The cradle is different.”

Maserati never expected big volumes from its V8 engine in the Quattroporte, which is why it never took it further down the same pipe to deliver an all-wheel drive version, or bothered putting it into the Ghibli.

“When the research was done for the Quattroporte, the part of the global luxury market that was buying all-wheel drive V8 limousines was very small,” Danesin explained.

“There are places where it would be strong, like Switzerland and the New England area of the US, but we are a small company and we have to put our resources where we can be sure we will benefit.”