Six-month order list for Maserati’s first SUV

Would you be willing to lay down more than $140,000 on something sight unseen?

More than 200 Australian Maserati buyers have done so in the case of the Levante, Australian stakeholders have confirmed.

The Italian marque’s breakthrough SUV has garnered significant interest locally since its official unveiling at the Geneva motor show in March.

In fact, the take-up has been so successful that prospective Aussie buyers have taken the plunge without driving a demonstrator vehicle or, in many cases, looking a Levante over in the metal before laying down the funds.

“The order book is well above 200 and we are pretty much sold out until April delivery,” Maserati Australia general manager Glen Sealey said.

“That’s all been done without demonstrators or even test vehicles. There hasn’t really been any advertising, it’s just word of mouth. We’ve only just started teasing out advertising.”

First arrivals of the Levante have begun trickling into Australian and New Zealand dealerships. Sealey expects an allocation of about 700 vehicles next year, which will help elevate Maserati’s total sales to more than 1000 cars. It has sold about 430 so far this year.

Of course, if a prospective buyer decided to renege on their Levante order then there would presumably be a another customer already waiting in queue. But Sealey said the demand demonstrates the immediate appeal of the luxury high-rider.

The Levante is available in Australia strictly in turbo-diesel V6 form. Sealey said there were no plans to introduce the V6 petrol version available in other markets, while admitting that as much as he would like to have a true V8 performance SUV in the segment – one that would rival the Porsche Cayenne Turbo – there simply wasn’t the demand to warrant the engineering and development investment.

“Back in 2006, V8 engines made up 60 per cent of sales in this segment but things have changed. Today they’re about 21 per cent,” he said.

“Of course I would love to see a performance variant but the business case just doesn’t stack up.”