The Gen 2 Cayenne hit an important milestone recently, when the 100,000th example rolled off the production line. The milestone car was a V8 in Pure White, destined for Brazil.
I make no apologies for featuring Porsche’s Cayenne on these pages. The car has supported Porsche’s continued success and its ability to serve classic Porsche owners, so deserves our applause on that front alone.
That said, it is also a great car in its own right. On the Gen 1 cars, the VW-derived 3.2 makes a great base for a supercharger conversion and the V8 is more than respectable in open road economy: my Landcruiser diesel manages a paltry 4-6 mpg more than the V8 Cayenne’s 22mpg average (reported by owners I have spoken to). The only thing I don’t like about it is that I don’t own one and the ’06-onward models still enjoy strong demand. But one is coming my way eventually, for sure.
Cayenne shares the production plant at Leipzig with Panamera. The facility is one of the world’s most modern car manufacturing plants and last year turned out almost 94,000 cars: an incredible number in what we are told is a challenging economic climate. That many people in new Porsches has got to be good news for more than just Porsche AG: get with the positivity!
More positives come with the plant’s future as home to the Cajun. The site is currently being extended to make room for the 1,000 new team members who will work there on the compact SUV. Leipzig is soon to celebrate its 500,000th vehicle made in ten years, and is currently manufacturing 500 vehicles a day. Great numbers that bode well for the future of classic Porsche investment: everything is connected.
100,000 cars sold is vindication of Porsche’s vision with the super Gen 2 SUV. Congratulations to all those on the Cayenne team: keep up the good work!
