First Look: 2022 Maserati Levante GT Hybrid

Like most human beings, I am enticed by forbidden fruit. Show me something I can’t have and I want it. Show me something others can’t have and, well, I absolutely do need it, now don’t I.

Doubly so for cars. Not only do I like to drive the latest and greatest, but it is my job to scoop the rest of Canada’s assembled autojournalists. Put simply, covetousness is both my vocation and my avocation — see Pagani Huayra R — and if you can make said object of jealousy Italian, well, then there’s my weekly stipend covered.

There are exceptions, however. I, for instance, wasn’t expecting all that much from this week’s bit of Italian exotica. Oh, it was a Maserati. But it was an SUV, a Levante to be specific, the company’s largest — that should be read heaviest — in point of fact and powered by a, ahem, four-banger. A hybrid no less. Visions of Prius like performance on Italian autostradas don’t exactly instill that covetousness I was alluding to earlier. Doesn’t do much for jealousy, either.

first look: 2022 maserati levante gt hybrid

2022 Maserati Levante Hybrid Photo by Nadine Filion

Perhaps, I should have read the spec sheet first. First off, the inline four in question is the 2.0T liberated from Alfa’s fine-performing — but slow-selling — Giulia. Still, Levante heavy; 2.0L slow.

But Maserati being, well, Maserati, added a bigger turbocharger. 280 horsepower becomes 326-hp. That sounds better. As do the 332 torques. That’s an increase of 46-hp and 36 pound-feet. That’s sounding a lot better, actually.

It’s all about the technology. Or, more accurately, the combination of technologies. Essentially, what Maserati did was abscond with the turbo’ed Alfa Romeo 2.0L that also powers the Stelvio sport ute. Then, because Maserati is, in Stellantis’ hierarchy of Italian exotica, supposedly the superior brand — superior, In Italian, pretty much always meaning faster — it throws in a larger turbocharger. The bigger the turbo, any hot-rodder will tell you, the bigger the boost. Hence the bump to 326 ponies.

But as that same hot-rodder will tell you, a bigger turbo also condemns your little four to poor transient response. That’s turbo lag to you and me. Anyone who has ever driven a Plymouth Horizon Shelby GLH-S — that acronym stands for Goes Like Hell by the way; yes times have changed — knows what I’m talking about. All the top-end power in the world is of little use if your weighty SUV can’t get off the line.

2022 Maserati Levante Hybrid Photo by Nadine Filion

And that’s where Maserati gets creative. Like most modern manufacturers, the company turned to electrification to backfill that “hole” in low-end torque. How they did it, however, is, as with most things Italian, a little differtent.

First, they added one of those Belt-Starter-Generator systems. You and I know them as a mild hybrids. Essentially, the traditional 12-volt alternator is swapped out for a more powerful 48V unit and its extra output is devoted to adding a little extra torque to the wheels. Typically, said torque is transmitted directly to the engine’s crankshaft via what we would commonly call the fan belt.

That’s where Maserati adds a twist. Some of the power from that BSG hybridization drive what the company calls an e-booster. An electrically-driven supercharger to you and me. And unlike a turbocharger, which has to build up steam to produce power, an electric supercharger is always on duty. Like electric motors, an e-supercharger’s forte is low-end torque. Combining hybridization with supercharging — again, computer-controlled and electrically-driven — is the perfect antidote to any paucity in low-end torque.

How Maserati combines the two, however, is a little counter-intuitive. In the Levante’s “Normal” mode, for instance, the e-booster works alone to shore up all that turbo lag. In “Sport Mode,” however, both the e-booster and the BSG “hybrid” hardware add to the engine’s power output. In typical hybrids, the opposite would be the case, the electric hybrid components called on first and the e-supercharger only when power demands are high. Nonetheless, Maserati contends that the e-booster’s low energy demands are a very efficient way to boost that low-end torque. Besides, performance will always top an Italian Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Even, it seems, when electrifying a small four-banger.

Whatever its machinations, the system works. And while the 336 horses that result from that larger turbocharger are welcomed, it’s the confidence the little four displays at low engine speeds that really impresses. Small turbocharged engines are always promising the performance of six with the fuel economy of a four. The Maserati, for one, delivers. In fact, behind the wheel it feels like a really good naturally-aspirated V6, never really needing much more than a couple of thousand revs to deliver the speed — and acceleration — desired. Even throttling up Europe’s highest mountain pass — the famed Stelvio I keep writing about — at an enthusiastic pace fails to tax the BSG and e-booster. Ditto cruising the Italian autobahn at 150 kilometres an hour. This is as impressive as 2.0-litre fours get. This is one of, if not the, best 2.0-litre fours I have tested.

It should even deliver decent fuel economy. Oh, I didn’t personally attest to any cost savings myself since my time in the GT Hybrid was mostly spent blitzing said autostradas at a buck-fifty or strafing the aforementioned Alpine passes, which, by the way, the big Levante does surprisingly well. However, according to European ratings, the hybrid manages 29.1 miles per Imperial gallon compared with the 3.0L V6’s 22.4 mpg. If the same advantage holds in Natural Resources Canada’s testing, that would seem to indicate something in the order of 10.5 L/100 km overall. That’s about the same as Audi’s Q7 45 TFSI but it sports but 248 horsepower. All good news, right?

2022 Maserati Levante Hybrid Photo by Nadine Filion

The bad news is that, for reasons I can’t fathom — my best guess is that Maserati’s American headquarters has a thing against four-bangers in general — we Canadians can’t get access to this delicious little engine. That, however, is countered by the fact Maserati Canada will be bringing the new hybrid four as the base powertrain for its new Grecale. For those that missed our First Look, the Grecale is Maserati’s smaller SUV, essentially an upscale version of Alfa Romeo’s Stelvio, which, if you remember my lead to this review, is the same engine, albeit sans all the Maserati upgrades. Said 2.0T Stelvio was hardly an anemic performer, so the added boost of the larger turbocharger and the BSG/e-booster should be stellar. Look for the Grecale to seriously challenge BMW’s X3 and Audi’s Q5, even in base form.

In its top trim, it’s going to murder them, as the Trofeo is powered by the same quad-cam, twice-turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 as Maserati’s MC-20 supercar, which, if you were paying any attention to our lede, Driving was the only Canadian outlet to evaluate. I’d say eat your heart out, except that would be gauche, wouldn’t it?

Oh hell, eat your heart out!

A few detail points about the latest Levante before I sign off. As for the rest of the Levante — i.e. other than the new engine — despite being a relatively dated design, it’s aging well, especially the cabin. For one thing, Maserati is continually diminishing Stellantis’ — that should be read Chrysler’s — influence so its décor, instrumentation, and leather clothing look more luxurious than ever. Sufficiently so that my significant other, Driving’s own Nadine Filion, thought it was Maserati’s sister-ship to the Lamborghini Urus, which, I’ll remind you starts at a little over a quarter mil. And Maserati’s latest infotainment system, at least the Italian version, is truly innovative. For instance, in navigation mode, there’s a small vertical information bar that includes all manner of information pertinent to your drive including next gas stations, current speed limits and, most useful of all, extremely accurate warnings of upcoming speed cameras. This last, if you read my admission of lead-footing the big sport brute, was a Godsend. Gotta love Italian technology!

Keyword: First Look: 2022 Maserati Levante GT Hybrid

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