Porsche Cayenne going hybrid

The German company will offer a 3.6-litre V6 hybrid version of its Cayenne SUV by the end of this decade, claiming to cut CO2 emissions and fuel consumption by at least 25 per cent.

To be called Cayenne Hybrid, this new petrol-electric model will feature a parallel full hybrid system where the hybrid's clutch and electric motor are positioned in line between the conventional petrol engine and transmission.

Prototypes have achieved fuel economy of 9.8 litres/100km in New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) testing, with Porsche hoping eventually to reduce fuel consumption to 8.9L/100km by the time the Cayenne Hybrid goes on sale.

The current Cayenne with Direct Fuel Injection (DFI) 3.6-litre V6 engine returns 12.9L/100km on the NEDC cycle.

Porsche favours the parallel full hybrid system instead of the branched or split hybrid concepts used by other manufacturers.

It claims the parallel system has superior packaging, improved acceleration and engine flexibility, as well as compatibility to the existing Cayenne platform.

Co-ordinating the car's three main components the combustion engine, the electric motor and the battery is the Hybrid Manager, the heart of the Cayenne Hybrid.

It oversees some 20,000 data parameters compared with about 6000 data parameters for a conventional engine.

Porsche claims it is one of the most powerful technologies found in any hybrid vehicle.

Other features of the Cayenne Hybrid designed to decrease fuel consumption include electric power operation of the airconditioning, power steering and the vacuum pump for the brakes.

Technical components, such as the oil pump in the Cayenne's automatic transmission, have been replaced by electrically powered units.

Porsche plans to introduce similar hybrid technology in a version of its Panamera four-door “coupe”. The Panamera will debut in 2009, with a hybrid to follow later.