Speculation: Porsche Cayenne, Green and Not-So, May Be Axed When Cycle Ends

The End Would Come Around 2016 If VW Decided To Limit Porsche to Sports Cars

No sooner do we write up a piece on the hybrid and diesel Porshe Cayenne models than our colleagues at AutoObserver post a piece speculating that the Cayenne is likely to bite the dust as Volkswagen  completes its takeover of Porsche and begins implementing its own product planning ideas.

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Aufedersein? 

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Bill Visnic's musings make sense, and if the Cayenne - in all versions, green and black - does fade away at the end of the present model cycle in 2016 or so, we won't shed tears.

It's a nice SUV, with tons of power and loads of style and accoutrements, but it's not exactly a vehiclel that the world needs. Porsche sells a lot of them, but we can see that with VW holding the purse strings, a Cayenne would offer unnecessary competition to the VW version - the Touareg - and the to Audi Q& from that rmember of the VW stable.

Still, we stand by our positions that:

• the Cayenne hybrid, which goes on sale here next spring, is a very nicely done hybrid with impressive fuel economy for such a large vehicle; and
• the Cayenne diesel, on sale in Europe and under study for the North American, ought to be sold here - it would be a lower-priced alternative that's almost as fuel-efficient and as fun to drive.

And wouldn't it be interesting if this early word of the potential demise of the Cayenne caused sales to rise, thus prompting VW to rethink the money-making potential of the line and evenutally deciding to keep on trucking with Porsche?

Posted by

John O'Dell August 31, 2009, 1:31 PM

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Audi, Diesel, Hybrid, Porsche, Volkswagen

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