We all thought that Porsche was being innovative enough when it decided to add what you would have to call an SUV model to its collection of hot sports cars (i.e. when they brought out the original Cayenne). Now, Porsche has shown itself to be a manufacturer for today by bringing out the Porsche Cayenne E-hybrid.  This is a very smart move on the part of this German manufacturer, given that the European Union is moving towards phasing out sales of new cars powered solely by internal combustion engines.  Everybody still wants to enjoy driving a Porsche – or at least the dream of driving a Porsche – so the manufacturers have moved with the times and given us this hybrid vehicle, giving you the best of both worlds: sporting luxury and low emissions.

Some of the promo pictures for the Porsche Cayenne E-hybrid show it being driven off-road.  Personally, I wouldn’t do this, given that (a) the ground clearance isn’t enormous (245 mm with air suspension at the maximum off-road setting) and (b) it looks too nice to spoil by thrashing it through the mud and rocks.  However, I’d be more than happy to use one for towing the trailer (trailer stabilisation is part of the stability package, so it’s built for towing) or exploring down a gravel road somewhere in the Outback.  However, it’s a respectable enough performer in this department, as the water-sensitive bits are 280 mm up when the air suspension is set to maximum off-road height or 250 mm for the steel suspension.  With the steel suspension, it can handle a breakover angle of 18.7°; the air suspension version can manage 21.3°.  The maximum approach and departure angles are 25.2° and 22.1° for the steel suspension and 27.5° and 24.4° for the air suspension.

The Porsche Cayenne E-hybrid certainly does look nice.  It’s got that sporty something you’d expect from a Porsche in the styling, such as the huge air intakes, though it’s chunkier than the traditional classics like the 911 and Carrera.  And is that a glimpse of green brake pads I see there through the spokes of the wheels?  Yes, this is one of the exclusive features of the Porsche Cayenne E-hybrid, and looks particularly striking with some of the darker paint tones, such as the standard black or the rich chocolaty brown (I could eat it!).  LED technology has been used for the exterior lighting, as is normal practice for most hybrid vehicles, given that LEDs use less power. They also are a lot more fun for the designers to play with, and they’ve certainly done this in the Porsche Cayenne E-hybrid.  The headlights are made up of 84 individual LEDs that have a very smart and very practical feature: when they detect an oncoming vehicle at night, they’ll automatically dim in the middle so you don’t dazzle the other driver; the parts illuminating the shoulder of the road stay bright. Brilliant in both senses of the word!  Just in case the headlights aren’t enough, the Porsche Cayenne E-hybrid can also get Night Vision assistance that uses infra-red sensors to see beyond the range of the headlights (this is part of the enhanced lighting package).

You might wonder what a sporty hybrid engine looks (and sounds and performs) like.  Well, one half of the hybrid equation is familiar enough, and this is the 3-L inline 6 petrol engine that delivers 250 kW of power at 5300–6400 rpm and 450 Nm of torque at 1340–5300 rpm (no, this isn’t a hybrid diesel – it runs on 95 petrol).  The electric part of the equation is no wimp, either, as it delivers up to 100 kW of power and 400 Nm of torque; as it’s an electric motor, the rpm doesn’t matter.  The electric motor has a maximum range of 23–44 km when working on its own, which is just fine for your typical around-town commute or for a Mum’s Taxi school run.  This is a plug-in hybrid (PHEV), and you can charge your Porsche Cayenne E-hybrid at home or at public charging stations (these really need a unique name of their own), which is made easy with the Porsche Universal Charge cable.  The two engines can work in combination, so when you really need to let the Porsche Cayenne E-hybrid show how hot an SUV can be, it delivers 340 kW of power and 700 Nm of torque when required. That’s pure Tabasco from the Cayenne!  The top speed possible is a racetrack-only 253 km/h and it does the 0–100 sprint in 5.0 seconds (working alone, the electric motor can sent you flying at up to 135 km/h).  To help keep things safe, the Porsche Cayenne E-hybrid has a veritable alphabet soup making up its stability and traction package: ABS, ASR, MSR and ABD.

The interior of the Porsche Cayenne E-hybrid is just as yummy as the exterior and the performance.  Yes, the driver gets to have the most fun, but the other passengers haven’t been forgotten: it’s got rear sports seats, which is a nice family-friendly touch.  The dashboard display blends old (the classic rounded Porsche analogue display) with the new (the split-screen virtual instrument display, plus a 12-inch touchscreen for the audio, communications and navigation).  The interior is gloriously roomy and there’s space for everyone plus a load in the back.  My particular favourite feature is the ambient lighting – you get to fine tune this to suit your mood.  Driver assistance aids include lane keeping assistance, adaptive cruise control and pre-collision detection and warning – and you could probably include the heads-up display in this department.  The sound system (Burmester Surround Sound) is fantastic and can be upgraded to a Bose package if you are really into music (you won’t hear an engine sound when the electric motor is working alone, so why not?).  The Porsche Cayenne E-hybrid has all the connectivity that anyone could want, and it’s compatible with a bunch of apps, including Apple Car Play.

The Porsche Cayenne E-hybrid really does give you the best of all worlds: a sporty, spacious SUV with the benefits of plug-in hybrid technology.  If this is what the future of Porsche is going to look like, I love it!

Current model series include:

• Porsche Cayenne E-hybrid

For any more information on the Porsche Cayenne E-hybrid, or for that matter any other new car, contact one of our friendly consultants on 1300 303 181. If you’d like some fleet discount pricing (yes even for private buyers!), we can submit vehicle quotes requests out to our national network of Porsche dealers and come back with pricing within 24 hours. Private Fleet – car buying made easy!