New Maserati Levante Trofeo coming to Australia

Maserati will unleash its answer to the Lamborghini Urus in Australia later this year, confirming that its new Maserati Levante Trofeo will reach showrooms around the fourth quarter.

Boasting a 440kW twin-turbo V8 borrowed from the Quattroporte GTS, the Trofeo is the most extreme version of Maserati’s five-seat SUV so far. The high-rider’s Australian prospects were originally uncertain, however Maserati’s Australian boss has confirmed to carsales.com.au the Trofeo will join the 404kW Levante GTS in showrooms.

“We’ll have the Levante GTS and we’ll have the Levante Trofeo here in Australia,” Maserati Australia chief Glen Sealey confirmed.

“It’s a beast. Performance-wise, it’s pretty close to the Lamborghini Urus and it will be priced similarly.”

Sealey’s estimation suggests the Trofeo will be close to the Urus’ $390,000 sticker price in Australia, most likely with some spare change. The GTS, meanwhile, is likely to bridge the gap between Trofeo and the current flagship of the range, the Levante S GranLusso/GranSport.

Both models employ the same engine, but for its application in the Trofeo, it has been treated to a re-engineering program, involving new crankcase, crankshaft assembly, oil pump, auxiliary drive belt and a wiring loom. New turbochargers, cylinder heads, camshafts, valves, pistons and connecting rods have been developed for the engine to boost power in the SUV.

“To be fair, someone who buys a Urus is a fairly out-there person, but someone who buys a Trofeo is going to be more discreet,” Sealey said.

“We won’t take from Lamborghini’s buyer base but we will get plenty of buyers from within the Maserati brand. I think there will be plenty of buyers that step up, including some of the older Quattroporte GTS owners who love their cars and don’t want to step out from them. Maybe the Trofeo will be for them.”

In terms of output per litre, the V8, which is built on a Ferrari production line, is at the very summit of any engine in the history of Maserati. Torque peaks at 730Nm and all that output is channelled to the four wheels by Maserati’s ‘Q4 Intelligent All-Wheel Drive’ system.

According to the manufacturer, the Levante Trofeo hits 100km/h from rest in 3.9 seconds.

“It begins to become that performance hero in the line-up, alongside the Quattroporte GTS,” Sealey said.

Other features to set the Trofeo apart from the rest of the Maserati Levante range include a new shift lever, Matrix LED headlights, a ‘Corsa’ driving mode with launch control and ‘Maserati Integrated Vehicle Control’, all of which will also be available in the on-going Trofeo models.