A Cayenne Makes Hybrids Hot

LOS ANGELES — Porsche hopes to spice up the luxury hybrid market with a gas-electric version of the Cayenne sport utility vehicle.

The German automaker brought the latest prototype of the Cayenne S Hybrid to the Los Angeles Auto Show and said we’ll see it “sometime next year.” Although hybrids still comprise less than 3 percent of all vehicles sold, Porsche sees that changing and wants a piece of the action.

“Hybrids are a small but growing segment of the automotive market and we believe there’s room for a Porsche hybrid,” said Detlev von Platen, president and CEO of Porsche North America.

Porsche believes adding an electric motor and lithium-ion battery to the Cayenne will boost its fuel efficiency to 24 mpg. Further development could raise it to 26. The goal is to make the vehicle 25 percent more fuel efficient than the gasoline Cayenne S, which gets 13 in town and 19 on the highway.

Porsche is using a full hybrid system, so the Cayenne S Hybrid will be able to run on gasoline or electricity or a combination of the two. It will put the electric motor between a 3.0-liter supercharged engine and an eight-speed Tiptronic S transmission. Porsche says a full hybrid system is most easily integrated into the Cayenne platform. To further increase fuel efficiency, Porsche will give the hybrid electric power steering, brake vacuum, air conditioning and transmission oil pumps.

No word on the price, but the Cayenne S starts at $60,700 so it won’t be cheap. It also won’t be the only four-door hybrid out of Stuttgart.

“Our engineers are already working on a hybrid Panamera,” von Platen said.

Posted in: Cayenne,Hybrid