Maserati Levante S SUV now available in the UK with Ferrari V6 petrol power. Costs from £70,755.

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The Maserati Levante SUV is now available in the UK with the Ferrari V6 petrol engine as well as the current diesel option. Costs from £ 70,755.

It’s getting on for a year since the Maserati Levante – Maserati’s first SUV – got its UK debut, and the odd one is starting to pop up on UK roads, and does look surprisingly good.

Sadly, as this is a Maserati, the UK was declared to be a diesel-only zone for the Italian SUV, and Maserati declined to deliver the Levante with a Ferrari V^ most of the rest of the world could buy.

That meant buyers were stuck with just 271 oil-burning horses from a 3.0 litre turbo V6 diesel which, although it was reasonably brisk at 6.9s to 62mph, was really just a posh Fiat SUV aimed at company car drivers. 

But now, having cogitated for a year, Maserati has decided they will sell the Levante in the UK with the Ferrari V6 engine, complete with 424bhp. Which makes the Maserati a much more appealing offering.

The world is full of competent and able diesel-engined SUVs to compete with the Levante, but a Maserati should have a complicated petrol engine and an edge of sportiness which, despite their best efforts, you just wouldn’t find in the oil-burner.

But now, with the new Maserati Levante S, you get 424bhp and a proper soundtrack, and performance of 0-62mph in a much more Maserati-like 5.2 seconds.

Peter Denton from Maserati said:

Following the launch of the diesel-powered Levante in the UK, it became clear there is also a demand for the luxury SUV in a petrol-powered version.

With the Levante now available in the UK with our V6, 430hp petrol engine, we can offer the performance synonymous with Maserati along with the great off-road capabilities and sophistication we designed when creating the Levante.

The current diesel Levante costs from around £55k, so buying the real deal Ferrari V6-engined petrol Levante at a starting price of almost £71k is a bit of a leap.

But it’ll be a rare and appealing Maserati SUV.