Wednesday 3rd March 2010

Geneva: Porsche's New Cayenne Goes Hybrid

Freshened-up Cayenne features hybrid-electric option

---

Porsche has revealed its all new Cayenne at the Geneva show and, you guessed it, this time it's 'greener'. Sort of.

Following the 'eco' SUV trend, the new Cayenne is lighter and more efficient than the car it replaces, coming with both a diesel and, for the first time, a Hybrid version. A near 200kg weight drop is mainly due to simplifying the transmission, which no longer comes with a low ratio 'box.

Prosche's Hybrid Cayenne comes with a supercharged 3.0-litre V6 offering 34.4mpg, and emits only 193g/km CO2. Its 'leccy motor, sandwiched between the engine and gearbox, moves the power output to 375bhp and torque to 427lb ft. The hybrid can run on electric power only (albeit for a short time) up to 40mph.

Porsche has introduced a new 'sailing mode' for the hybrid. This allows you to coast along at speeds approaching 97mph (where allowed) without combustion engine assistance.

It's worth noting that the Cayenne accounts for 50 per cent of Porsche sales, so a hybrid emitting less than 200g/km is going to do wonders for the brand's averages.

Diesel power returns with 20per cent better fuel economy, while the 240bhp V6 will now achieve 38.2mpg and 195g/km.

The 395bhp 4.8-litre V8 Cayenne S returns 15bhp more than before, though it also 'only' uses 26.9mpg on the combined cycle.

The 493bhp turbo model is also a little more frugal giving 27.6mpg. but don't ask about the CO2 emissions...

Prices start at £41,404 for the V6 Cayenne and shoot up to £81,589 for the Turbo.

[soad]

Personally don't care much for this hybrid stuff - Turbo for me all the way!
Bloody steep though...

[Walton]

200kg weight drop has got to be applauded.

[off_again]

Walton said:

200kg weight drop has got to be applauded.

I cant help thinking that this is probably the biggest contribution to MPG here....

Hybrid? Makes it heavier and more complex. Lightness, efficient engines, decent aero and some good engineers have got to be the better answer to this.

[MogulBoy]

Weight drop is impressive as it is also a bigger car (longer wheelbase) however quite a chunk of that weight loss was from the deletion of the low ratio transmission which is bound to annoy some, but presumably not that many, customers.

Quite like to know more about 'sailing mode'... is it linked to the cruise control?

[Nickellarse]

I don't know if this is just a placating touch to satisfy the green lobby or not.

It seems to me that this technology can help to generally increase fuel economy and thus reduce impact.

I like the application and I can see the thought involved. Lowers 0-60 times becuase of the ready available torque of the electric motors and the coasting helps to reduce crusing consumption.

[geoffracing]

What an ugly thing.
Porsche cars already all look like squashed bugs.
This is a sort of waking up bug, with a very vulgar face.

Only the Carrera GT is a nice looking Porsche.

Oh yes, and what a horrible sound they make!
Sort of "made in Germany" wind-up toys of the '50s.
Nearly as bad as the V8 Ferraris! (I'm NOT joking: I heard one lately, and I prefer the sound of a basic BMW to a rear-engined Ferrari).
V12s? Oh, that's an other world!

[Twincam16]

Walton said:

200kg weight drop has got to be applauded.

True, although it's a pity they can't make it more like a sleek-but-tough off-road estate car rather than a bloody great tank.

Surely there's a market for something that's like an Audi Allroad until you want to actually go off-road, at which point trick suspension jacks the body up to Range-Rover height, but most of the time in the name of aerodynamics and other people actually being able to see round it, stays like a 'normal' car when on the road.

[Roberty]

I prefered the previous two versions myself.

Sadly the 200kg weight loss is at the expense of it's of-road performance.

I'd imgine that 99% of owners never take it off-raod so of course it makes sense I just hope there's an option you can tick to put it back in?

Only reason I'd have would be to off-road in it.

[c_seven]

Can't work out if this is an improvement (looks wise), the previous one was actually ok ish but this looks like the front of a Panamera attached to the back of an Infinity FX45, which IMHO are the best ends of both, but can't say I ever imagined them getting together!

[EdM]

bizarrely diesel looks a good all rounder for day to day running though yet to test drive a porker diesel...performance & fuel economy almost makes the new 'S' interesting too, old 'S' lacking in urgency...so just sold mine....loved my C2 but no room for the little one...and all the stuff that comes with them...Panamera too expensive and just too ugly an alternative...

[vintageracer01]

Porsche goes Japanese - Korean - whatever. OMG!

Edited by vintageracer01 on Tuesday 23 March 18:40