Maserati Levante SUV debuts in the UK. On sale June from £54,335

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The Maserati Levante SUV has had its UK debut in London and will go on sale from June costing from £54,335. Only the diesel Levante is being sold in the UK.

The Maserati Levante SUV finally arrived at the Geneva Motor Show in March as Maserati’s big white hope for a buoyant sales future on the back of car buyers’ obsession with SUVs with a ‘Premium’ badge. And it’s a rather appealing offering.

The shame is that Maserati has decided there’s no point in delivering a Levante in the UK with a petrol engine, so UK buyers will, certainly for now, have Hobson’s choice, with just the 271bhp 3.0 litre twin-turbo V6 diesel, despite the Levante being offered elsewhere with 3.0 litre twin-turbo V6 petrol with 345bhp or 424bhp.

But even with a diesel engine, the Levante still has appeal as a relatively rare premium SUV (Maserati seem to be hoping for sales of around 1500 Levantes a year in the UK), and Maserati kicked off the UK push for buyers with a glitzy launch in London last night.

Hosted by Lisa Snowdon at the Royal Horticultural Halls, attendees included Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Alex James and Olivia Grant, with music from DJ duo Amber Le Bon and Becky Tong and a show from reportage artist Anna-Louise Felstead who created a real-time canvas of the Levante against a London Skyline.

Away from the party and entertainment, nibbles and drinkies, the Levante was launched in the UK by Maserati’s Giulio Pastore, Maserati’s Europe General Manager, who said:

The launch of Levante tonight marks a truly significant moment for Maserati in the UK. With strong demand for luxury SUVs, we are now able to appeal to an even wider audience.

The best thing about Levante is that it’s a true and pure Maserati that has perfect on-road and off-road capabilities, offering owners the ultimate in terms of elegance, practicality and comfort of a luxury SUV yet retaining the marque’s performance DNA.

The Levante is going on sale in the UK next month (June 2016) at Maserati’s UK dealers, with the prices starting at £54,335, with a £60,285 price tag if you want either a Luxury or Sport Pack and £61,185 if you want to splash out for the Luxury Pack Zegna Edition with bespoke Zegna Mulberry Silk.