Arabian Might

The First-ever Mainstream SUV From Italy is Named After a Wind From the East. To the Emirates With the Levante Then.
 

- Sriram Narayanan

And it happened. I could see frantic activity in my rear view mirror as the convoy of Maserati Levantes was broken. The lead car ahead of me took a U-turn to rush to the spot I was looking at through my rear view mirror. Sunset was a couple of hours away and we were amongst sand dunes on the outskirts of Dubai. And one of the Levantes in a bunch of about eight got stranded in the sand. I was surprised it didn’t happen earlier. Because this isn’t a Land Cruiser or a Land Rover or a Wrangler. This is a Maserati SUV. A company that’s never made SUVs before. Its parent company, Fiat, has never made SUVs before. Its home country – Italy – has never made SUVs before. There have been attempts. By Lamborghini no less. But that first attempt was a failed military prototype called the Cheetah which couldn’t climb up inclines because of a 5.9-litre V8 mounted at the rear and that lead to the LM002, a civilian abomination reeking of power and a 290-litre fuel tank that’d empty out an Arab oil well before you could say Arab oil well.