Maserati Levante SUV gets new 346bhp V6 Petrol engine option in the UK

Maserati Levante SUV gets new 346bhp V6 Petrol engine

The Maserati Levante SUV will now be offered in the UK with a new 3.0 litre 346bhp petrol engine, the fourth engine option in the Levante range.

It’s two years since the Maserati Levante arrived as Maserati’s first SUV, and although it seems surprisingly able, and looks good on the road, when it arrived in the UK it came only with a diesel engine option.

No doubt, when Maserati were planning the Levante – pre-dieselgate – they convinced themselves that we frugally-minded Brits would only be interested in an oil burning Levanate. They were wrong, of course, but you could see the logic.

But as dieselgate unravelled and car buyers’ dislike of diesel started to bite in to many car makers’ sales, Maserati finally woke up enough to offer UK buyers of the Levante a much more appealing 424bhp petrol V6 (Ferrari fettled, no less) last spring.

Since then, we’ve had the Levante Trofeo unveiled with an even more appealing 582bhp Ferrari V8 to take on the Porsche Cayenne Turbo (although there’s still no word on whether it’s heading for the UK) as a halo model for the Levante, and now we get an additional petrol engine option too.

Levante buyers in the UK will now be able to opt for a new 356bhp V6 petrol (which will also be available in the Quattroporte and Ghibli) with prices starting from £61,425, with new options available too including Adaptive LED Matrix headlights and Maserati’s Integrated Vehicle Control. There’s also a new 10 colour palette.

Mike Biscoe, Maserati GB’s General Manager, said:

We are pleased to be able to now offer the 350hp petrol engine on the Maserati Levante, which in addition to the 430hp petrol engine we introduced last year and the 275hp diesel we offered at launch, provide a much greater choice to our UK customers. The introduction of the more cost effective, entry level petrol engine is as a result of the demand in the market and we expect it to sell extremely well.

Diesel only to petrol dominance in just two years for the Levante.