03 Aug 07
This is the oddest-sounding Porsche Cayenne I've ever sat in. The speedo is showing an indicated 100 Km/h - 62mph in real money - but I can't hear the engine at all. There's no intake or exhaust note, just wind rustling past the 'A' posts. In fact, it's all a bit eerie as we 'sail' along, as my Porsche driver likes to describe it.
Yet I know there's a 3.6-litre, 290bhp V6 nestling under the bonnet. Then he guns the throttle and the V6 springs instantly into life adding more power to the Cayenne's gait as we speed up to nearly 130 Km/h (about 80mph).
Welcome, readers, to the Porsche Cayenne Hybrid. A few years back using the words Porsche and hybrid in the same sentence would have seemed heresy, as much as using politician and truth together. But not now: Porsche knows that it has to be seen to contributing more visibly to the green agenda, even if it has reduced the CO2 emissions of its product 1.5% year-on-year for the past 15 years - just adding direct injection alone to its range of Vee engines for the Cayenne cut fuel consumption and CO2 by 15%. They had to do more, hence this early demonstration of the Cayenne Hybrid that will go on sale in a few years time.
Incidentally, the same technology will also be used in the Panamera at some future date.
