Big hoops and Italian fashion house sourcedleather seats for Maserati's first V8 powered SUV.

Imitating the profit motive of German brands with their launch edition performance cars, Maserati will do the same with its new Levante V8.

Limited to a mere 100 units, the Levante Trofeo Launch Edition is exactly what it purports to be: styling trinkets and strange colours, at a premium price, for customers who wish to be amongst the first to own a Ferrari powered SUV.

Distinguishing the Launch Edition Levante are carbon-fibre bumper bits, side skirts, bonnet inserts and its 22-inch Orione design alloy wheels. Exterior colour is a big differentiator too, with Blu Emozione Matte blue, Giallo Modenese yellow and Rosso Magma red the customer options.

Inside you’ll be seated on plush Pieno Fiore leather, with the Trofeo logo stitched into the headrests and a 1280-watt sound system by Bowers & Wilkins providing orchestral sound quality through its 17-speakers. A special note to the Trofeo Launch Edition’s leather seats is that they are upholstered in a leather produced and refined by renowned Italian fashion brand, Ermenegildo Zegna.

As mentioned, the Levante V8 is Ferrari-powered, although Maranello would prefer most to use the classification of its 3.8-litre twin-turbocharged engine as a design joint-venture, instead of referring to it as an authentic Ferrari powerplant. Outputs are impressive, boosting 440 kW and 730 Nm.

An eight-speed automatic transmission from German supplier, ZF, splits that power between the front and rear axles. The Levante V8 is a very rapid luxury SUV, capable of running a 4.1-sec benchmark 0-100 kph sprint, before closing in on a top speed of 300 kph.

To keep the big SUV rolling safely at those speeds, Maserati partnered with Continental, who provide a version of its SportContact 6 tyre specifically tailored for the Levante application. Levante Trofeo Launch Edition also becomes the first volume production Maserati to be factory fitted with 22-inch wheels.

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