Although the all-wheel-drive Levante (Mediterranean wind) is seen in its left-hand drive petrol guise, the first batch of these Italian SUVs will arrive with an eight-speed automatic gearbox from ZF mated to a 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel engine.
The diesel variant will churn out 275hp at 4,000rpm and 600Nm of torque from 2,000 to 2,600rpm and pricing for them are expected to start from under RM800,000.
Although the Italian brand with Neptune's (or Poseidon's - if your prefer Greek mythology instead of Roman) trident hasn't quite prepared the right-hand drive petrol versions just yet, Naza Italia vice-president Farid Sulaiman assured that it "will make a strong entrance and will more than meet expectations."
For the moment, Bentley's Bentayga and Jaguar's F-PACE are due to arrive on Malaysian soil later this year and Aston Martin is currently making plans for their own SUV that's based on the DBX concept.
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In terms of performance, the diesel-powered 2,205kg (kerb) Levante is capable of reaching 100kph from standstill in just 6.9 seconds before reaching a top speed of 230kph and has a fuel economy rating of 7.2 litres per 100km on the combined cycle.
A detuned diesel variant is also available, which is 25hp down at 250hp that can also be found at 4,000rpm while maintaining peak torque of 600Nm as well. But it may be unlikely that this will be made available.
With the 2,109kg (kerb) petrol-powered variant arriving later, there will be two 3.0-litre (2,979cc) 60-degree twin-turbo V6 engines mated to an eight-speed ZF automatic gearbox being made available and one of them will provide 350hp at 5,750 rpm along with 500Nm from 4,500 to 5,000rpm.
This means its 0-100kph sprint time will take 6.0 seconds before reaching a top speed of 251kph.
As for the other more potent twin-turbo mill, that adds an additional 80hp and 80Nm to the offering table, bringing the final performance figures to 430hp at 5,750rpm and 580Nm of torque from 4,500 to 5,000rpm.
With the increase in output, the Levante is able to shave the 0-100kph sprint time down by 0.8 seconds to 5.2 seconds while adding an additional 13kph to its top speed at 264kph.
As standard, the Levante rolls on 18-inch wheels with 255/60 series tyres which partially hides the front and rear two-piston callipers that bite down on the 345mm (front) and 330mm (rear) drilled steel discs for stopping power.
The Levante has four drive modes of Normal, I.C.E., Sport and Off-road - each altering the engine, transmission, suspension and electronic characteristics to suit the chosen path, while carrying 580 litres of precious cargo in the boot.
For safety, it comes with six dual-stage airbags, active headrests, tyre pressure monitoring system, adaptive cruise control, blind spot alert, rear cross path detection, lane departure and forward collision warning systems to name a few.
