The current generation Cayenne was introduced to the world in mid-2017 as a 2019 model year vehicle, and has been soldiering on for quite a few years now. The strong SUV sales for Porsche prove that its customers are interested in the six-figure ute, with variants available from the standard 3-liter turbocharged V6 all the way up to the all-conquering Turbo GT model. There are even two different variants of plug-in hybrid available. It scores five stars in the Euro NCAP, it looks like a sports car on stilts, and it’s built in Bratislava; What more could you want? According to Porsche, more comes in the form of more power and more all-electric range for the hybrid models. Okay, sure, let’s do that. That’s exactly what the Cayenne is getting for its next facelift.
The folks over at Car and Driver have already had an opportunity to climb aboard the good ship Cayenne for the 2024 model year, and you can read all about that experience over on their site. We’re going to focus on the power and range gains here, which are substantial. At the entry level, the base Cayenne gets a 14 horsepower bump to its 3-liter V6 from 335 to 349, plus an increase in torque of 37, now at 369 lb-ft. Okay, not a bad start. The biggest news is probably found under the hood of the Cayenne S, which ditches the diminutive 2.9-liter V6 for a V8 it shares architecture with the GTS and Turbo. This new varietal of V8 Cayenne comes with 468 horsepower and 442 lb-ft of torque, up from 434 and 406 respectively. That’s more power than the current GTS, so perhaps Porsche will do the same thing with the GTS in the Cayenne lineup as it has in the Macan lineup and push it to the current Turbo level, while Turbo S E-Hybrid and Turbo GT maintain the two highest points of the Cayenne lineup?
Speaking of the Turbo GT—which was launched just last year—it is also getting a bunch of upgrades. Horsepower is up a full 20 ponies from 631 to 651, and allegedly there are quite a few suspension tweaks as well. Maybe Porsche is aiming to head off the advances of the recently-launched Lamborghini Urus Performante?
And finally, my favorite Cayenne in the land gets a significant hybrid boost. The current 3-liter-powered Cayenne E-Hybrid has an all-electric range of just 17 miles, and an optional faster onboard charger will pull down 7.2 kW of power. With this new version Porsche is bumping the battery size from 17.9 kWh to 25.9 kWh, and while range ratings haven’t been calculated yet, claims this will about double the useable electric range of the Cayenne E-Hybrid. If we can get 30 to 35 miles of range from a Cayenne, that’ll be absolutely killer. And with the larger battery comes faster charging, as the new standard onboard charger is rated at 11 kW! The gasoline engine in the E-Hybrid actually gets a power decrease to improve fuel economy, but the electric motors pick up the slack. The EV side of the E-Hybrid now contribute a whopping 174 horsepower, up from 134. Overall system horsepower is up slightly to 464 (from 455).
Of course there will be exterior updates with LED headlights and taillights, and there will be interior trim changes, including a new larger infotainment screen. But we’re Porsche people, we don’t really care about all that. Give us the power!