2022 Maserati Levante Nerissimo Modena Pkg $96k Msrp on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2022 Maserati Levante Trofeo Road Test | Paint the town red

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- It’s a transitional moment for Maserati and many of its contemporaries. WeÂ’re on the precipice of an electric future that is taking shape but not yet reality. Until that day comes, weÂ’re taking our final laps in things like the 580-horsepower Levante Trofeo. Dripping in attitude, sharp design and packing an engine that sounds ready for Imola, this Levante recalls everything Maserati has done well over its 108-year history, which predates Ferrari by three decades. Except for the sport utility body style, this vehicle could have been built by Maserati in almost any era. In 2022, however, itÂ’s not a template. Maserati will replace the Ferrari-built V8, like the one under the hood of my test vehicle, with its in-house Nettuno V6, a 600-hp twin-turbo engine that is MaseratiÂ’s biggest engine project in decades. Ultimately the brand will go all-electric. In the here and now, the Levante Trofeo is an attention-getting vehicle. Even more awe-inducing than the engine, the $17,000 Rosso Magma paint looks like it should come with a parole officer. It's available through the Fuoriserie Corse customization program and is by far the most expensive option on this 2022 Levante Trofeo, which stickers for $173,550. It almost appears iridescent in some lighting. Other add-ons include carbon-fiber paddle shifters ($450), painted 22-inch staggered wheels ($400) and gloss black brake calipers ($500). Being the Trofeo trim, itÂ’s already loaded with the best features from the Modena and GT variants.  This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. This is our first taste of the Levante since Maserati reshuffled the trim lineup for 2021. It wears the updated Maserati emblem and Trident, and Trofeo is spelled out in a script that has a vaguely 1980s vibe. Otherwise, this is the Levante weÂ’ve known for several years. It arrived on a bright and unusually cold spring morning, the booming bass of the exhaust note reverberating through my neighborhood. From the back, it cuts a bit of a Porsche silhouette, but up front the shark teeth grille leaves no doubt this is of Italian origin, specifically Maserati. It recalls things like the Alfieri concept, Tipo 60 Birdcage, and for a deep cut, the 1950s A6GCS racer. While the design up front borders on ostentatious, things are more measured in the back, where the roof slopes gently into the curvaceous fenders. Maserati also gets the details right.

Why Italians are no longer buying supercars

Italy is the wound that continues to drain blood from the body financial of Italian supercar and sports car makers. The wound was opened by the country's various financial police who decided to get serious about superyacht-owning and supercar-driving tax cheats a few years ago, by noting their registrations and checking their incomes. When it was found that a rather high percentage of exotic toy owners had claimed a rather low annual income - certain business owners were found to be declaring less income than their employees - the owners began dumping their cars and prospective buyers declined to buy.
Car and Driver has a piece on how the initiative is hitting the home market the hardest. Lamborghini sold 1,302 cars worldwide in 2010, 1,602 cars in 2011 and 2,083 cars in 2012 - an excellent surge in just two years. In Italy, however, it's all about the ebb: in 2010, the year that Italian police began scouring harbors, Lamborghini sold 96 cars in Italy, the next year it sold 72, last year it sold just 60. The declines for Maserati and Ferrari are even more pronounced.
Head over to CD for the full story and the numbers. What might be most incredible isn't the cause and effect, but where the blame is being placed. A year ago the chairman of Italy's Federauto accused the government of "terrorizing potential clients," this year Luca di Montezemolo says what's happening has created "a hostile environment for ­luxury goods." Life at the top, it ain't easy.

Maserati switching to in-house twin-turbo V6 and turbo four

Automotive News has been able to put some output figures to the two primary engines that will power Maserati's renaissance. Last year the Italian luxury brand sent notice that it would terminate its deal to with Ferrari to use the Maranello-sourced F160 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 and F154 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8. As new Maserati models appear and current models are overhauled, the brand will begin installing either Maserati's own 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6, or an FCA-sourced 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder. The V6 will greet the world from the middle of the MC20 supercar poised for debut in September, assuming nothing goes worse with the world than it already has. Rumor from Mopar Insiders and Allpar forums is that Maserati began building its V6 based on Alfa Romeo's 690T V6. Alfa Romeo puts the 690T in the Stelvio and Giulia Quadrifoglio, the engine's development having started seven years ago with Ferrari's F154 V8 as its heart. Tuned for speed, peak output could reach 542 horsepower. After making its home in the racy coupe, the V6 will also serve a new midsize Maserati crossover coming next year, as well as the next GranTurismo coupe and GranCabrio convertible. In the crossover, power is apparently limited to no more than 523 horses. In Maserati's new V6, one piece of technology that permits such high output and emissions friendliness is turbulent jet ignition (TJI). German supplier Mahle has been developing the technology for at least 10 years, and put it to use in Ferrari's Formula 1 engine about five years ago, after which Japan's Super GT manufacturers picked it up. Instead of a spark plug igniting fuel directly in the combustion chamber, TJI places the spark plug and an injector nozzle at the top of a "jet ignition pre-chamber assembly." The injector shoots a mist of gasoline into the pre-chamber, the spark plug fires, and the force of ignition in the pre-chamber sprays the combustion through tiny holes at the bottom of the pre-chamber into the cylinder as the piston rises. Mahle says the shorter burn and improved combustion spread means cleaner-burning gas engines that emit fewer emissions.   AN says that the "new V-6 engine will be 'electrified' in some form." It's not clear if that means all versions of the V6 will get some sort of hybrid assistance, or if — as had been thought — there will be a non-hybrid unit.