It’s no secret that Porsche has been considering building a so-called coupé version of its popular Cayenne crossover … and now a well-placed CARmag.co.za source has confirmed that this new derivative has indeed been given the green light.
Set to compete with the likes of the BMW X6 and Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupé, the new Cayenne Coupé – which will be based on the latest, third-generation version of Porsche’s largest SUV (pictured below in Turbo guise) – is expected to hit the market “within the next year”, according to our source.
Based on this timeframe, we’d speculate that the production version of the Cayenne Coupé, complete with dramatically sloping roofline, will debut at one of this year’s major motor shows (possibly Paris in early October). While we’d expect the engine line-up to largely mirror that of the standard Cayenne, there have been rumours of an all-electric powertrain (perhaps pilfered from the upcoming Audi Q6 e-tron) debuting in this new model.
Of course, Porsche CEO Oliver Blume had already admitted that the Stuttgart-based brand was contemplating a move into this niche segment, telling Automotive News late in 2017 that “there might be opportunities for the future”.
Porsche design chief Michael Mauer, too, earlier confirmed to Autocar that the German automaker had already built a Cayenne Coupé prototype as an “internal design project”.
Interestingly, previous reports have suggested that a coupé-style version of the Macan was also on the cards, so keep your eyes peeled for news on that one…
