Rejoice: A Cayenne Turbo-Fighting V8 Maserati Levante Is On The Cards

When the Maserati Levante was fully revealed last month, there were no big surprises in the engine department. There was a diesel V6, and a couple of petrol V6s. But something was conspicuously absent: a V8. And that’s something Maserati may soon be addressing.

When asked by Autoblog if the eight-pot from the Quattroporte could be squeezed under the bonnet, the answer from Maserati’s head of vehicle programmes Davide Danesin was: “yes, it fits, and we have a prototype already,” while assuring the publication that it works just fine with the vehicle’s four-wheel drive system. As a reminder, the 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 - related to the similar-sized unit in the Ferrari California T - is good for 523bhp in the Quattroporte, so in the Levante it’d make for an interesting alternative to the likes of the Porsche Cayenne Turbo and Range Rover Sport SVR.

We shouldn’t celebrate too much just yet, though. The company said that as the market for stupidly powerful SUVs is relatively small, a V8 version of the Levante wouldn’t be the easiest business case to make. For now, we’ll have to wait and keep our fingers crossed…