Porsche’s highest selling car is here in its new avatar. Porsche, who are known for their thoroughbred sports cars, have seen a surprise hit with the Cayenne. The big, mean SUV manages to outsell any other Porsche by quite a margin. The Cayenne is already on sale now, with deliveries beginning from early October. There are five versions of the Cayenne available: the Cayenne Diesel, the Cayenne S, Cayenne S Diesel, Cayenne Turbo and the star of the show, the Cayenne S E-Hybrid.
The car gets a sharper design with long, flowing lines and precise angles giving the car a more defined look than before. It is easy to distinguish the new car from the old by the bi-xenon headlamps with the four-point daytime running LED lamps which are a standard from Porsche. The rear also sees some prominent changes. The most obvious of these is the new design of the tail-lamps. Stepping inside, the car gets a few key modifications that clearly show the designers dedicated their efforts to ensure a pleasurable driving environment. The Cayenne gets a multi-function sports steering wheel which is quite similar to the one found in the 918 Spyder. Paddle shifters also come as standard across all models of the Cayenne.
For the engineers at Porsche, the target to boost performance while lowering fuel consumption is by no means contradictory. With this iteration of the Cayenne, Porsche have introduced a new 3.6-litre bi-turboV6 in the Cayenne S, which was fully developed in-house. The V6 develops 420 PS and 550 Nm of torque. The standard eight-speed Tiptronic S transmission finds its way onto this car as well. The Cayenne Turbo gets a 4.8-litre twin-turbo V8 capable of 520 PS and 750 Nm of torque, ensuring a blistering run to its top speed of 276 km/h. The diesel version of the Cayenne is no slouch either, with the 3.0-litre V6 in the Cayenne Diesel making 262 PS and 580 Nm of torque. The 4.2 V8 in the Cayenne S Diesel is good for 385 PS and a whopping 850 Nm of torque.
The real winner for Porsche is, however, the plug-in Cayenne S E-Hybrid. Along with the 918 Spyder and the Panamera S E-Hybrid, the Cayenne S E-Hybrid makes Porsche the only manufacturer in the world to offer three plug-in hybrids for sale simultaneously. The output from the new electric motor has more than doubled from 47 PS to 95 PS. The supercharged 3.0-litre V6 puts out an additional 333 PS, bringing the total power output to 416 PS. The combined torque output of the system is 590 Nm. The car is capable of travelling at speeds upto 123 km/h while deriving power solely from the electric motor. Data regarding the vehicle, like the battery level, charging status etc can be pulled up on a smartphone using the Porsche Car Connect feature.
The Cayenne is priced as follows:
| Cayenne Diesel | £49,902 (Rs 50.9 lakh approx) |
| Cayenne S | £60,218 (Rs 61.5 lakh approx) |
| Cayenne S Diesel | £61,474(Rs 62.7 lakh approx) |
| Cayenne S E-Hybrid | £61,474(Rs 62.7 lakh approx) |
| Cayenne Turbo | £93,763(Rs 95.67 lakh approx) |
(All prices are for the UK, local taxes for India will apply.)
Story: Pranjal Bhatnagar
