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Porsche has released official details about the new Cayenne diesel, the first oil-burning car from the famous sports car manufacturer.

It’s powered by a 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel powerplant, borrowed from stablemate brand Audi and will be going on sale in February next year. The 3.0 TDI engine offers 240bhp and returns a combined 30mpg in the Cayenne, according to Porsche’s official figures. That equates to CO2 emissions of 244g/km.

A Porsche statement said the decision to offer a...Read the full article

I suppose it had to happen if they wanted to retain any significant share of the 4x4 market in Europe ... but it is still a pig-ugly beast !

I have defended Porsche for many years when people have mad comments about various cars they have produced not being "real" Porsche's. 

This however, is not a Porsche.  This is now merely a re-badged Toerag.

It's a sad day, no matter how "legislation" or "tax" driven it is.

Shock. Horror. Yawn.

 

Cayenne => not a Porsche!!!

 

Cayenne Diesel => 00000000000000000000000000000000000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

So much for: "We will never do a Diesel Porsche" How long before the Cayman/Boxster and dare I say it... 911 all go down the Diesel route?

The thing that annoys me is that Porsche could have tinkered with the engine and raised its power output - or even added another Turbo. Then they would have at least have been able to claim the engine was unique. Instead they took the cheap easy route - shame.

38carssofar:

it is still a pig-ugly beast !

 

Don't you think Porsche has chosen a wrong way when it comes to producing its SUV? Instead of designing something as racy as Infiniti FX or as nimble and light (in SUV terms of course) as Mazda CX-7, it came up with a big, heavy and ugly monster. Now an underpowered middle-of-the-road diesel makes it even worse, where can you find any sign of porscheness in this Porsche. In comparison, a 924 or 914 seem to be full-fat Porsches!

Quattro369:

Instead they took the cheap easy route - shame.

The problem though is that it would have been neither cheap nor easy to put a third-party diesel engine in, hence a disappointing introduction.  Fair comment though.  I wonder if Porsche are leaving the way open for a more tuned version depending on take-up of this one???

If my wife finds out, she'll be ordering...see, it's not a real Porsche.

JackB:

 Don't you think Porsche has chosen a wrong way when it comes to producing its SUV?

I don't think they're exactly kicking themselves.  For what it's worth, the Cayenne is both smaller and lighter than its closest rivals.  The bigger, heavier and uglier (if possible) Q7 does OK with the engine.

Rebadged Toerag indeed... Now that Porsche has "officially" taken control of VW, it's scarcely a surprise to see an Audi engine in the thing. I wonder if the V10 in the Carrera GT is in any way related to the equivalent Lamborghini unit?

Still a "Pig ugly beast" though, and for the same money, it would be possible to buy and insure two or three different types of vehicle that trump the Cayenne on most of it's "USPs", ie elderly Transit and/ or Defender and something for the weekend like a used Elise or Impreza.

Vehicular storage space issues, 2 or 3 x insurance bills or the inate desire to own a compromised "car" on the latest plate aside, why would anyone actually want to buy one?

Not a sports-car, not an off-roader or a particularly practical estate car, and certainly not very attractive to behold. As I said, as a prospective purchase, why?

This is just a cheap version with the most convenient off the shelf diesel because Porsche needs European sales to replace lost US SUV sales.

It will be interesting to see how it effects Audi SUV sales.

 It highlights that Porsche like Land Rover could be in serious trouble if they are relying on top end SUV sales to balance the books.

It will sell, of course, no matter how abhorrent we find it.  From a cold-hearted business perspective, they had to do it - look at what percentage of X5s and Rangies are diesels.

However, I'm surprised that they've started with a 3.0 V6 - not much when you've got a whale like the Cayenne to propel.  I always assumed that VW's V10 TDI would be the natural choice for first Porsche oil-burner.

I don't give a toss about whether it is "not Porsche". The Cayenne itself is "not Porsche" so adding a diesel to the range doesn't make a blind bit of difference and will likely contribute heavily towards ensuring the model's survival in these more economical times, allowing Porsche to continue doing what they do well with their sports car models. Without the Cayennes, when you look at their car parc Porsche are actually pretty green as far as high end sports car manufacturers go, it is only the Cayennes that hold them back. I think I'm past the days of worrying about whether it might affect Porsche's heritage or other such nonsense; I mean, for crying out loud they basically own VW/Audi/Lamborghini, they're not a cottage industry. If however Morgan were to diversify into light commercial vehicles I might get upset!