2019 Maserati Levante Trofeo is one of the fastest Maseratis ever
It's no MC12, but then again, this is what the market wants now.
I'm not quite sure how many people out there looked at the Maserati Levante SUV and said, "I'd buy one, but only if it were way too fast for its own good," but at least one person did, because now there's a fast one.
The 2019 Maserati Levante Trofeo is a performance-oriented SUV that the automaker claims is one of the fastest production Maseratis ever. Its engine is a 3.8-liter, twin-turbocharged V8 putting out 590 horsepower and 538 pound-feet of torque -- a variant of the engine found in the Quattroporte sedan.
If the background were any darker, this thing would disappear.
Those numbers make for some other pretty swell numbers. The Levante Trofeo will hit 60 mph in 3.7 seconds and keep going past 187 mph. Those figures are pretty close to those of the MC12 supercar, a sibling of the Ferrari Enzo, which hit 60 mph in about 3.5 seconds and topped out a hair above 205.
As with every performance variant of every car that's ever existed, the Levante Trofeo looks a smidge angrier than the standard one. The outside sports a bunch of carbon fiber elements, and there's a set of 22-inch aluminum wheels filling the wells. LED headlights come along for the ride, too.
The interior has a set of sport seats wrapped in natural leather, and there's a new shift lever that Maserati says has "improved functionality," even though the other one does a plenty fine job of changing gears already. There's also a new Corsa ("race," in Italian) mode, in the event you feel like taking your luxury SUV to the track.
The car you see in the picture above is the limited launch edition, which sports matte paint, matte wheels and red brake calipers. You'll get some exclusive stitching colors, as well, in addition to a matte carbon fiber trim. There's also a badge with the car's serial number on it, to let everyone know just how exclusive it is, because what's the fun if you can't let everyone else know about it?
Levante Trofeo production begins this summer in Italy, with the SUV going on sale shortly thereafter. Pricing will be announced later.
