Porsche announced today at the Frankfurt show that it will produce exactly one infinity of variations on its Cayenne SUV. There will be a Cayenne for everyone. There's the Cayenne, the Cayenne S, the Cayenne Turbo, the Cayenne Bob, the Cayenne powered by rabid squirrels and many, many more. Or at least there will be two new Cayennes: the GTS and the Hybrid...
As you might guess these two models cover opposite ends of the spectrum. The natty GTS is the sport model for those who don't want all that juicy power of the Turbo model but are still feeling a bit race-y. It comes with a body kit and standard 21-inch wheels. At 405 horsepower, the V8 produces 20 more than the Cayenne S. Shorter gearing and the increased power results in quicker acceleration. Porsche conservatively claims a 0-62-mph sprint of 6.1 seconds.
At the other end of the spectrum is the Cayenne Hybrid, which does not yet exist in production form. Nonetheless, Porsche showed it in a Cayenne body shell that it had festooned with green rope lights (as seen in New Jersey rental limos) and rather large holes in its body. This parallel hybrid uses a 3.6-liter V6 mated to an electric motor to get an estimated 28.8 mpg. Porsche hopes to get that number up to 31.7 mpg by the time the thing is on sale, somewhere around the end of this decade. -- Daniel Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit, Inside Line
ateixeira says:
07:59 AM, 09/11/07
The hybrid (end of the decade?!) seems like a smokescreen to give them license to build even less efficient Cayennes. Shorter gearing and more power means less economy for the GTS model.
The idea of a green Porsche is so hopeless I wonder if they should even try.
estreka says:
03:41 PM, 09/11/07
The powered-by-rabid-squirrels model (or PRS) was a good idea until nut prices went through the roof.