Maserati Levante Vulcano released

The Maserati Levante Vulcano has been announced and just seven of the 150 produced for Europe and Asia have been allocated to Australia.

At $184,990 plus on-road costs, the special-edition large Italian luxury SUV is $5000 more expensive than the 321kW Maserati Levante S GranSport ($179,990 plus ORCs), even though it’s based on the standard 257kW Levante GranSport ($144,990 plus ORCs).

For the extra $40,000, the Maserati Levante Vulcano brings a host of design and equipment upgrades, most notable including its Grigio Lava matte paint finish, matte-finished 21-inch 'Helios' alloy wheels and the choice of red or black Pieno Fiore leather with contrasting stitching.

The Vulcano also features the Nerissimo Collection package with dark-themed appointments, including darkened tail-lights, a black chrome grille and logos, gloss-black window surrounds, body-coloured door-handles and burnished exhaust outlets, plus red six-piston Brembo brake callipers.

Inside, there's laminated privacy glass, heated and ventilated front sports seats with power adjustment and memory, contrasting embroidered Maserati 'Trident' logo on the head restraints, and high-gloss carbon-fibre trim highlights for the interior and sports steering wheel and paddle shifters.

Differentiated inside by a chromed aluminium centre console badge labelled 'One of 150', the Volcano also comes with matrix LED adaptive headlights, a Bowers & Wilkins premium sound system, soft-close doors and front/rear parking sensors.

There are no changes to the 257kW/500Nm 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 that powers the entry-level Levante all-wheel drive wagon (priced from $125,000). Therefore the Volcano also hits 100km/h in a claimed six seconds on its way to a top speed of 251km/h.