Report: Maserati is secretly developing a twin-turbo V8 Levante, possibly to duke it with the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S

The Maserati Levante has been one of the most interesting propositions from the Italian automaker in recent years, especially given its tumultuous history of making sports and GT luxury cars.

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But it was inevitable that Maserati was going to enter the luxury sports crossover wars and they did just that. The Maserati Levante has arrived to compete against the likes of the Range Rover Sport, the Porsche Cayenne, and more.

But word through the grapevine is that Maserati isn’t just looking to compete with the basic crossovers as AutoBlog reports on confirmations of the existence of a twin-turbo V8-powered Levante prototype. It exists as a test-mule to research and engineer the possibility of a high-performance variant of the Levante, mainly to compete against the likes of the Cayenne Turbo and Turbo S as well as the Range Rover Sport SVR.

Currently, the Levante is only offered with two forms of the latest Ferrari-developed 3.0L twin-turbocharged V6, similarly to the Ghibli and the Quattroporte, while a V8 is offered but for the Quattroporte rear-wheel drive model only. That V8 is a twin-turbo 3.8L mill with 523hp on tap.

Speaking to Maserati’s head of vehicle programs, Davide Danesin, AutoBlog learned that the Quattroporte’s V8 does fit under the hood of the Levante–I mean, they are the same platform basically. Additionally to fitting in the Levante, there’s also plenty of room for packing in an all-wheel drive system.

Danesin is also the one who confirmed the existence of a V8 prototype, which shouldn’t be surprising. Car companies have prototypes of many cars they see potential with. However, the V8 prototype faces some competition, mainly from the forced-induced V6 crowd, where Danesin even said that developments with the V6 are making great strides, with engineers being able to squeeze more power out of the current designs.

That said, a V8 Levante may not even happen because the twin-turbocharged V6s are just better propositions from making the same or more power with better savings on fuel economy.

Only time will tell.

– By: Chris Chin

Source: AutoBlog