Sorry to start with a cliché, but the Porsche Cayenne Coupé really is one of those cars that appears to be an answer to a question you thought nobody was asking. Yet like all manufacturers, and German premium ones in particular, Porsche is getting ever keener to make sure no niche goes unfilled. So what we have here is, as it says on the tin, a coupé version of its large Cayenne SUV.
Effectively a rival for high-end versions of the BMW X6, Mercedes GLE Coupé and, arguably, the Range Rover Velar, the Cayenne Coupé at the very least should inject some driving dynamism into a class where generally speaking there is none. And it does that by being based on the best big SUV of the lot for those of us who love driving. Mechanically, you see, the Coupé is pretty much identical to the standard model.
Obviously the big changes are external, where designers have grafted on a sloping roofline that chops around 20mm from the Cayenne’s height, plus added a few extra millimetres of length and width. Credit where credit’s due, though, because the Stuttgart stylists have done a rather neat job, the changes helping shed some of the standard car’s not inconsiderable visual bulk. It’s not a jarring shape like the BMW X6; instead, it’s much more subtle, giving the Coupé more than a hint of slightly scaled-up Porsche Macan.
Perhaps aware that this could be mistaken as a mere marketing exercise, Porsche has attempted to add some eye-catching engineering. For starters, there are two roof options - a full-length panoramic glass job or a carbonfibre panel. The latter saves 21kg and gets a distinctive ‘double bubble’ finish similar to that of the Porsche 911 GT3 RS, which perhaps isn’t the sort of connection that car’s creators would like made.