For 20 years, you always knew what to expect from each new Porsche Cayenne. Broadly speaking, it was more of the same: more performance, more luxury, more tech to make it one of the best SUVs available. Diesels came and went, hybrids became more useful, each Turbo was somehow even dafter than the last. But all that’s going to change for the next Cayenne; it very much won’t be the same. Because while a combustion-engined model will continue in some markets, there’s going to be a Cayenne Electric as well. If there’s a battery-powered Range Rover and a suite of BMW and Mercedes EV SUVs, there probably ought to be a Porsche equivalent as well.
This is our first look at a prototype, and Festival of Speed-goers will be able to get up close at the weekend as well. As it happens, the Cayenne has already set a hillclimb record before its arrival at Goodwood, recording a 31.28-second run at Shelsley Walsh. That makes it the fastest SUV of any stripe to go up the thousand yards, surpassing the previous 35.53 best set in a Bentley Bentayga.
Gabriela Jílková, Porsche’s Formula E development driver, was behind the wheel: “The course is challenging and does not forgive mistakes. There are no run-off zones and little room for correction. But the active suspension gives the new Cayenne enormous stability and precision. I felt completely confident at all times.”
So new Porsche sets new fastest time somewhere – no great surprise, if we’re honest. Perhaps the biggest revelation associated with this latest prototype teaser is confirmation of the Cayenne Electric’s towing capacity. It’ll be able to take 3,500kg, as evidenced by the video with Richard Hammond taking his Lagonda on a trailer behind the Porsche. There aren’t many EV SUVs that can take 3,500kg right now, and it definitely sounds like a good attribute for the ‘U’ part of the Cayenne as an SUV. Nobody is saying quite what it’ll do for efficiency just yet…
Michael Schätzle, Vice President of the Cayenne Product Line, added: “Our customers have always appreciated the high utility value of the Cayenne. That’s why we didn’t want to make any compromises in the development of the all-electric model.” While the car that ran at Shelsley wasn’t quite representative of the final car in terms of tuning, the power and the equipment were production-spec; should you not want to tow your track car to Shelsley Wash, a very senior Cayenne will be capable of going up very fast on its own.
As mentioned, the camouflaged prototype will be at Goodwood from Thursday. When Porsche confirmed the Cayenne Electric last July, it wasn’t forthcoming with a production date for the model – and still isn’t. Because who’d like to predict where the market for EV SUVs will be in 2026? But it’s making progress, it can go very fast, and it’ll be able to tow pretty much whichever old car you fancy. Maybe the Cayenne isn’t changing so much after all.