Maserati Needs the Levante to Succeed

Why do we see so many exotic luxury brands entering the SUV market? Because the road to success goes through this market today much the same way it used to go through the sedan market. Over half of the luxury vehicles sold today is SUVs, which makes perfect sense for the names of Bentley, Jaguar, Aston Martin and Lotus to enter the fray. Of course this also means Maserati is in the same boat and they truly need their new Levante to be a huge success on the high-end market to help them increase sales and create a surplus of revenue.

Most names that prowl the market Maserati sits in produce their vehicles in low numbers (at least under 10,000 per year) and have no aspirations to be more of a mass production company. Maserati, which has sat on the sideline to many other European names for many years, has its sights set on selling at least 60,000 vehicles per year by 2018 even though until now it has barely been able to crack the 6,000 vehicles per year mark. A goal of ten times the number of vehicles in only two years from now seems a bit too aggressive, but Maserati has hope as they have pinned at least half these sales on the new Levante.

Originally, at least as early as 2003, Maserati entertained the idea of an SUV but the original thought was one that was a Ferrari in a Dodge Durango chassis which was presented in concept form in 2011. Thankfully they have gone back to the design table and five years later the Levante is a vehicle that is truly Maserati as it’s a Ghibli on stilts, making it an SUV that will has the success of the company on its shoulders; can it take the weight of the entire company or will it crack under pressure?

With the company experiencing a six week shutdown last year because of poor sales the Levante is expected to turn things around. While this SUV sits on the same platform as the Ghibli it has a Ferrari-built V6 under the hood and has a long travel air sprung suspension that replaces the steel coils of the Ghibli. In the US we will see tow version of the Levante, the base model and the S. The base model will have 345 horsepower and cost $72,000 while the S will move up to 424 horsepower and cost an additional $11,000.

With the future of the entire company in the balance the Levante will be more affordable for the package offered than the Ghibli which might mean this car is halted for production once again, but as long as the Levante is selling that will be acceptable. What won’t be is if the Levante is actually met with hesitation and poor sales, which just might be enough to see the Maserati name deleted from the automotive industry altogether, which would be a certain tragedy for the entire industry.