Porsche Confirms Cayenne Turbo S E-Hybrid
Automaker’s CEO, Oliver Blume, says consumers can expect a 2018 debut.
If you need any further proof that the world is changing, consider for a moment that the most powerful vehicle in Porsche’s lineup is not a 911 (at least for now). That honor currently belongs to a hybrid powered sedan: the Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid, with its 680 hp drivetrain. Even stranger? That same drivetrain is now earmarked to go into the Cayenne.
Porsche CEO Oliver Blume confirmed the move to Motoring while speaking at the recent Geneva Motor Show. Blume also confirmed that hybrid vehicles will continue to be range toppers for the automaker. “That’s kind of our idea, to promote the electric power and therefore make the top-of-the-line model a hybrid version, like the Turbo S.”
But that doesn’t mean that we’ll see a hybrid 911 just yet, as Blume explained.
“At this moment we are thinking only about [hybrid for] Panamera and Cayenne. What we will do with the 911… the 911 is the 911, and the most important engines in the future will be combustion engines. If you could come with a plug-in hybrid… it isn’t decided yet, but the concept of the new 911 will be able to integrate a plug-in hybrid. With this generation we won’t integrate the hybrid drivetrain.”
In the meantime, however, you’ll be able to purchase a hybrid four door sedan and an SUV that will blow the doors off a lot of sports cars. Porsche estimates the Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid will take only 3.4 seconds to get to 60, and their estimates are typically conservative.
Using the same 4.0 liter V8/electric motor combination as the sedan, the Cayenne Turbo S E-Hybrid might even challenge Tesla’s Model X as the world’s fastest SUV. That all-electric model has clocked a 0-60 time of 3.1 seconds. But even if it doesn’t quite get there, the electrified Cayenne is still going to be a barn burner of an SUV that will run with most any 911 model. Strange times indeed.
