Stalwart luxury SUV turns electric for its next generation – with an astonishing peak output of 1140bhp
Ah, the Porsche Cayenne. They should just rename it the Porsche Controversy and be done with it, shouldn’t they?Back in 2002, the Cayenne arrived on a tsunami of scepticism from enthusiasts arguing that the sports SUV ‘wasn’t even a thing’, and who would want that swollen SUV-that-swallowed-a-911 abomination anyway?Well, lots of people wanted it – more than 1.5 million people since then, in fact. The Cayenne has been one of the biggest sellers and biggest profit-makers for Porsche, and we have long passed the point where anybody questions the validity and demand for performance SUVs.Fast forward nearly a quarter of a century and here we are with the latest Cayenne controversy. Welcome to the all-new Porsche Cayenne Electric. Not only is it battery-bowered but also, if you go for the Turbo that we’re driving here, it makes 1140bhp and 1106lb ft of torque. Yes, you read that right.Put it in launch control and this 2.6-tonne luxury electric family conveyance will give everything it’s got in order to do 0-62mph in 2.5sec. Mind you, in default Normal mode it musters a mere 845bhp, so it’s a good thing that you’ve got the overtake button for 10sec of extra fizz to the tune of 1019bhp…Even if you eschew the Turbo and go for the entry-level Cayenne Electric (which we’ve also driven out in Spain), you’re still getting 436bhp and 616lb ft. Remember when even those numbers would have been shocking?Here we are again, then, with Porsche’s halo SUV courting all of the controversy. But let’s be open-minded, here, shall we? Let’s have a go and see what it’s like before we try to answer the question of whether an electric SUV – or any car, for that matter – is really any better for having this much power.
