Porsche Cayenne teased ahead of August 29 reveal

PORSCHE AG has released endurance testing footage of its third-generation Cayenne ahead of its global reveal next week, with an Australian on-sale date for the all-new premium large SUV also now confirmed for the middle of next year.

The company tagged the new Cayenne, which will be unveiled on August 29 before its Frankfurt motor show public debut, as “a complete redevelopment” of the outgoing model that will aim to broaden its character across model grades.

“The drive and chassis as well as the display and control concept have been redesigned to further increase the spread between sportiness and comfort,” Porsche AG said in a statement.

“The main objective of the elaborate testing process is to achieve a perfect balance between the many components, some of which were developed especially for the Cayenne.”

Prototypes of the vehicle dubbed ‘E3’ have travelled around 4.4 million kilometres, according to Porsche, during 50 degrees testing on the sand dunes of Dubai, UAE, and the roads inside Death Valley, USA. Staying in the latter country, the testers also plummeted to minus 45 degrees on Alaskan ice.

The Cayennes further ventured to Chinese cities for stop-start traffic testing, with Sweden, Finland, Spain, South Africa, Japan and New Zealand – but not Australia – also figuring in on- and off-road testing procedures.

For dynamics testing, Porsche went from its test track in Weissach, Germany, to the Nürburgring-Nordschleife in the same country, and the 12.6km high-speed circuit in Nardo, Italy, as part of a total testing regime that started in 2014.

Although the camouflaged Cayenne mules look similar to the current-generation models, video footage of the interior reveals a steering wheel and four-circle driver display cluster pinched from the new Panamera.

It is all but confirmed that the Porsche SUV will snare cabin design cues in particular from its pricier large liftback sibling, including a widescreen centre display and a reduced number of now-touch-sensitive console controls.

Downsized engines from the Panamera have also been tipped to cascade into the Cayenne, with only an overhauled version of the current 193kW/580Nm 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6 likely to remain as entry to the Cayenne lineup.

The marginally more expensive 220kW/400Nm 3.6-litre naturally aspirated V6 petrol engine will likely be replaced with a 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 that in the production Porsche large sedan produces 243kW/450Nm in standard form.

The existing 283kW/850Nm 4.2-litre twin-turbo-diesel V8 will be expected to swap out for a 4.0-litre version with around 310kW/850Nm, while at the top end the 382kW/750Nm 4.8-litre twin-turbo petrol V8 will almost certainly be flicked for a 4.0-litre version that packs 404kW/770Nm in the Panamera.

A Porsche engineer said the Cayenne has been tested successfully “with all the different engines” – likely including a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) both at the low-end and, as with the 500kW/800Nm Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid, the top end.

Porsche Cars Australia (PCA) confirmed to GoAuto that the third-generation Cayenne will arrive locally mid next year, with pricing and specification to be announced as the vehicle becomes available to order early in 2018.

The local arm of the Stuttgart-based brand said it will have enough stock to satisfy current Cayenne buyers until the new model arrives.

According to VFACTS July 2017 results, the large SUV remains the second best-selling Porsche with 913 sales up 1.3% year-to-date, behind the Macan on 1569 sales and up 8.8% over the same period compared with 2016.

Porsche has sold more than 760,000 Cayennes worldwide since the original generation debuted in 2002.