Porsche has released official details about the new Cayenne diesel, the first oil-burning car from the famous sports car manufacturer after several years of rumors.
It’s powered by a 3.0 litre V6 turbo-diesel powerplant, borrowed from stablemate brand Audi and will be going on sale in February next year. The 3.0 TDI engine offers 240bhp and returns a combined 30mpg in the Cayenne, according to Porsche’s official figures. That equates to CO2 emissions of 244g/km.
A Porsche statement said the decision to offer a diesel Cayenne was “taken in response to changed legal regulations, especially in European markets, resulting in tax incentives for vehicles with diesel engines… Porsche’s stake in the Volkswagen Group, the world’s largest manufacturer of modern diesel engines for passenger cars, has opened up new opportunities to utilise diesel technology.”
The statement also acknowledged that Porsche is working on a hybrid version of the Cayenne, which it claims will offer fuel consumption ‘in excess of 30mpg’. It’s all part of an effort to boost the Cayenne’s dwindling sales as the economic crisis takes hold.
The diesel model will be offered with the Tiptronic-S automatic gearbox as standard. It'll cost cost £40,250 when it reaches British showrooms in February 2009. European pricing will start at €47,250.
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Premiere at Porsche: Cayenne with diesel engine
The Executive Board at Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, has given the go-ahead: from February 2009, the sports car manufacturer will offer a Cayenne with a diesel engine and thus extend its range of drives for the sporty all-terrain vehicle further, once again. This decision was taken in response to changed legal regulations especially in European markets, resulting in tax incentives for vehicles with diesel engines. Furthermore, Porsche's stake in the Volkswagen Group, the world's largest manufacturer of modern diesel engines for passenger cars, has opened up new opportunities to utilise diesel technology.
Porsche will equip the Cayenne with a 3.0 V6 turbo diesel engine with 240bhp (176 kW) supplied by Audi AG, a subsidiary of the VW Group. The average consumption of the Cayenne Diesel is 9.3 litres per 100km, with CO2 at 244g per km. The spontaneous throttle response and the high torque characteristics of this diesel engine deliver the required performance levels for a sporty all-terrain vehicle such as the Cayenne. The substantial torque of a maximum of 550 Newton metres complements the sporty chassis dynamics and provides a high degree of control to offer driving enjoyment that is typical of Porsche.
In response to customer demand, the new Cayenne model will initially be offered in Europe. Preparations for market introduction in other countries are underway.
The Porsche Executive Board is confident that it will maintain the long term market success of the Cayenne series in the long term with the low-consumption V6 turbo diesel. In the last financial year 2007/08, 45,478 units of this series (which currently incorporates five different models) were sold - more than ever before in a financial year.
With the introduction of the Cayenne Diesel, Porsche is consistently continuing its commitment to reduce fuel consumption. As early as Spring 2007, the sports car manufacturer had equipped the new generation of the Cayenne series with engines with petrol direct injection that consume up to 15% less fuel in real-world driving conditions. Since the summer of 2008, Porsche has also offered the most recent generation of the 911 series with direct-injection petrol engines. The sports car manufacturer is also working on another Cayenne variant with hybrid drive that will consume less than 9 litres of fuel per 100km and will be launched onto the market at the end of the decade.
The new Cayenne with diesel drive will be available from dealers from February 2009 onwards. Equipped with the proven Tiptronic-S automatic gearbox as standard, the Euro base price will be €47,250. In Germany, the Cayenne with diesel engine including 19% VAT and country-specific equipment costs €56,436.
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