Believe it or not, the Porsche Cayenne turns 20 this year. As part of the Stuttgart manufacturers early millenia salvation, they have decided to dig into the archives and unearth this: the Cayenne Convertible prototype.
This is one of the lesser known projects from Porsche with their novel SUV that graced the world in 2002 and ushered in a new era of success for the sports car maker. That being said, the Cayenne Convertible prototype shown here is just that – a prototype. It was never drivable nor were the lower sections of the body stiffened up to handle the lack of roof rigidity.
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This is as far as the one-off model ever went, with the asymmetrical rear end portraying two distinct aesthetics that designers mocked up. Included in the series of Cayenne variants that were under consideration after its launch was also a coupe and larger, people-mover with three rows of seats but none would have captured the imagination of the public as much as this.
Current Porsche design boss Michael Mauer stated: “An SUV as a convertible is a challenge both aesthetically and formally,” and despite the similar front end to the first generation Cayenne, this early iteration of what could have been seemed proportionally incorrect. Mauer further added: “An SUV always has a large and heavy body. You combine this with a small top half and then cut off the roof – you get very strange shapes emerging from that.”
Retaining the same long wheelbase from its underpinned Cayenne SUV counterpart, the Cayenne Cabriolet only made use of two doors that measured in at 20 cm longer than standard. A manually removable soft top connects the A-pillars to the sloping rear section of the quirky prototype and despite no mechanicals, Porsche states that the 911 Targa from the 991 generation onwards employs a similar automated solution.
Porsche eventually opted to cease development of the Cayenne Convertible shortly after this prototype was crafted to life citing that financial forecasts suggested the niche model would struggle to be a profitable option in their lineup. With such a conclusive portfolio and the existing SUV craze at the moment, perhaps now would be the opportune time to cut the roof off of one of their high riding models.
