The Porsche Cayenne will get an all-electric variant, with a new flagship electric SUV positioned above it, Porsche confirmed Monday in its 2022 financial results presentation.
The electric Cayenne will be included in a redesign marking the model’s fourth generation. Porsche did not discuss specific launch timing, but it said the next-generation Cayenne will arrive sometime after the mid-decade launch of the electric 718 sports car, which will eventually be available only with electric powertrains.
Porsche also announced that the existing third-generation Cayenne will get major upgrades during the 2023 calendar year, including three plug-in hybrid variants with greater ranges. Those may arrive as 2024 models.
2023 Porsche Cayenne
Also confirmed in the presentation was an electric SUV positioned above the Cayenne and based on Volkswagen Group’s Scalable Systems Platform (SSP). Porsche will use a specific “Sport” version of SSP for this model.
This new model will offer “strong performance and automated driving functions with the typical Porsche flyline,” per the automaker, plus “a completely new experience inside the vehicle.” It’s part of an effort by Porsche to move further upmarket in order to increase profitability.
“We are observing growing profit pools in this segment, in particular in China and the U.S.,” Porsche CEO Oliver Blume said in a statement regarding the rationale for a new flagship electric SUV.
2024 Porsche Cayenne prototype
Neither of these projects are entirely news; the new SUV project was announced last July, and a Cayenne EV has been on the product map for some time, for later in the decade.
But this announcement does confirm that they’re separate products and that it’s effectively adding two new electric luxury SUVs above the compact Macan SUV. The Macan Electric is built on the new PPE platform shared with Audi, and it’s due to arrive in the first half of 2024.
Porsche aims to make EVs 80% of its global sales by 2030. In the past year, the automaker has also argued that it can be more profitable making EVs than gasoline vehicles, to boot.
