New York Motor Show: Maserati Levante Trofeo revealed

Maserati has revealed a super-SUV capable of a 0-100km/h sprint in just 3.9 seconds – the Maserati Levante Trofeo.

The Trofeo is powered by Maserati’s 3.8-litre twin turbo V8, also found in the Quattroporte GTS GranSport, but it’s putting out 440kW and 730Nm.

As well as the lightning-quick (for an SUV) sprint to 100km/h, the Trofeo also claims a top speed of over 300km/h.

It’s the first time a Maserati Levante has been equipped with a V8, and it’s placed it firmly among the ranks of the fastest SUVs around.

Maserati CEO Tim Kuniskis says Maserati’s engine expertise (in part thanks to Ferrari, the engine was built at Maranello) has made the Trofeo possible.

“It’s proof that when you play with the elements you end up in a storm”, says Kuniskis.

“In the case of Trofeo, the engineers and designers in Modena knew that the driveline parameters were more than able to cope with additional power and they also knew that Maserati had access to the finest engines on earth.

“So, they were up to the challenge of making the finest luxury SUV also one of the fastest”.

The chassis has been tuned to handle the power increase (the Levante S has only 321kW/580Nm from a twin-turbo 3.0-litre V6), while its all-wheel drive helps keep traction.

The Levante Trofeo ‘launch edition’ is “a limited series intended for select enthusiasts in the U.S. and Canada,” so we won’t see any show up in SUV-hungry Australia.

But the ‘standard,’ if you can call it that, Levante Trofeo is destined for other markets, yet to be announced.