Cayenne touch this

Porsche is a risk taker, as much as BMW, Volkswagen, Audi or Mercedes-Benz is. But it is a different type of German risk taker. In the 1960s, they created the 911, arguably the most wrong-right car ever made. Then in the mid-80s they took a supercar on stilts to the Dakar rally and won it twice! You could call the Porsche 928 a failed attempt, but it was a risk well worth taking. And then came the Cayenne SUV and Panamera sport sedan — two cars that completely break through the Porsche ethos.

More Related Stories Frankfurt Motor Show 2007 Porsche Cayman S - Mid rage Porsche Cayenne Turbo Gemballa Edition - Gemballa Run Porsche Boxster S - Million dollar baby Porsche Cayenne - Cayenne 'em all! Porsche 911 - The New Testament Porsche Boxster - Box Populi Porsche goes hybrid! BSM EXCLUSIVE! New Porsche Cayenne coming in third week of July

So, for the first time in all these years, with the new generation Porsche Cayenne, they’ve kind of played it safe. Read the press pack and you come across terms like better fuel efficiency, lower CO2 emissions and lighter construction. It's as if Greenpeace one day decided to walk into their HQ and threatened to side-swipe every single Cayenne they could sight (a la their anti-whaling attempts) unless Porsche didn’t clean up its act. But Porsche has been far more responsible than that and yet in the process the Cayenne has become more brutal. 

To find out how Porsche has managed to do that, we landed up in Dubai to put the new Cayenne through the grind. At first, the team told us that the new Cayenne has become longer by 48 mm, of which the wheelbase alone has increased by 40 mm, thus making the car longer. But on visual inspection the Cayenne appears smaller, sharper and tauter. That is because the design team have done a fabulous job of making this car look more Porsche than the previous Cayenne. The clean bonnet design with mild power bumps and the sharp A-design air dam have made the Cayenne look more like its 911/Boxster brethren than it has ever been. When viewed in profile, it now appears less boxy and more curvy with the coupe-like roof line and curved C-pillar, making it less top heavy than before. The new platform on which the Cayenne is based (as also the new VW Touareg) has helped the big Porsche lose 185 kg over its predecessor, instead of gaining an additional 70 kg. This has been made possible by using aluminium for several panels such as the front wings, the bonnet cover and the boot, plus they have engineered light yet stiffened doors. Additionally, weight has been saved in other areas as well, such as the electrical wire looming, the drivetrain and the interior.