The latest Cayenne will be available in diesel in three months and is expected to be one of the most popular models. Photo Gallery
The car that recession-proofed Porsche is doing it again in 2009.
The difference is that the next new model of the cash-cow Cayenne SUV will be the first Porsche with a diesel engine.
The diesel Cayenne will arrive within three months at a starting price of $101,900 and should soon become one of the most popular models in local showrooms.
It will need to do well to arrest a sales slide which has seen demand for Porsches drop by more than 40 per cent since the final quarter of 2008. The objective is to stop the rot in the 25-30 per cent by the end of July, meaning a 2009 sales total of around 1000 cars against 1180 last year.
"The Cayenne diesel will save the bacon," says the managing director of Porsche Cars Australia, Michael Winkler.
"It's recession proofing the company. That's what we said and it's coming true.
"In the highly speed-limited environment in Australia, the 0-100km/h time, the torque, says it all. It's a very Porsche driving experience."
He expects the diesel to grab 80 per cent of the current sales of the Cayenne V6 while adding a few of its own, but admits "It will cannibalise it, for sure".
But the diesel Cayenne is not the only newcomer for '09, as Porsche has just unveiled the updated Cayman and Boxster - more power and torque with better economy, a prices which are up to $12,000 better value - and is planning for the arrival of the updated 911 GT3 and the crucial Panamera.
"That car is a very safe bet. We will have it in October," says Winkler.
The price is already set from $270,200 for the PDK-equipped Panamera S to $364,900 for the Turbo model, and Porsche is trumpeting five innovations including the operating system for the lift-up rear wing.
But there is no word on numbers for Australia.
"That is the million-dollar question," say Winkler.
He forecasts that as many as 80 per cent of Panamera buyers will be new to Porsche, and expects them to be pushing for something new on all fronts.
"The customers will be more demanding. I think the expectations of Panamera customers will transform our organisation."
Winkler says the Panamera will join the Cayenne in Porsche's hybrid push, although it is unlikely that the four-door luxury car will get a diesel. At first.
"At this point, no plans," he says.
And what about the hybrids?
"Cayenne will get here first. Before the end of 2010. We might be six weeks later than Europe but we really want it here before the end of 2010. We will get the first right-hand drive cars produced and on a ship before England."
The hybrid will be part of an all-new Cayenne model, which Winkler stresses is a pure Porsche and not just a body job on the Volkswagen Touareg with powerful engines.
And, for the first time, he emphasises that even the first-generation Touareg was really a Porsche project.
"It is a car we did for Volkswagen. So they have taken a Porsche, we have not taken a Volkswagen," Winkler says.
